Star Queen
by CrypticReality
Summary: When Jaina Solo hit her head, everything begins to change. With the help of Kiki Gallant, the handmaiden and acting Queen of Naboo,she will try and uncover what her newly acquired strange visions really mean. But can she trust Kiki as much as she thinks?
1. Disclaimer

**Star Queen**

**by CrypticReality**

**Disclaimer: **Star Wars is owned by Lucas Arts. All the copyrights associated with Star Wars belongs to them. Only the new ideas contained within this fan fiction are the property of its writer. No profit is being earned by the author of this fan fiction.


	2. Introduction

**A long time ago **

**In a galaxy far, far away... **

**Star Wars **

**Episode VII**

**Star Queen **

The civil war has ended; the Empire has fallen to the Rebel Alliance's credit and Princess Leia of Alderaan has been instated as the monarch of the newly formed monarchy, the New Republic.

Naboo, disgusted by their bloodline queen (through Padme Amidala)'s erroneous marriage to scoundrel and smuggler, Han Solo, has succeeded from the impressive powers of the New Republic and searches for a bloodline monarch unspoiled by non-regal influences.

Princess Leia bore three children to her husband and under the advisement of her brother, Luke Skywalker, placed them under the care of her closest friend Winter on the distant world of Anoth to keep them protected from Naboo's search for royal-lines.

However, a dark alien force breached the safety of Anoth and only two children remained when their parents returned.

Now, sixteen years later, with the alien tried and exiled, Princess Leia approaches the distant planet where her child daughter been raised without knowledge of her interstellar heritage.

But there are several others who wish the girl for their own purposes.

Whether for good or for evil, Jaina Solo is of great importance to the lives and justices of all...


	3. Chapter 1

The cameras on the outer hull of the Lady Luck turned and whirred. "Target located," a mechanical voice said. As the ship's outer mechanics revolved around its hull, lights could be seen shining from the third deck of the small ship.

Deck three housed both the main observation area of the ship and a lounge area fit for an eccentric smuggler. Between the two areas of the deck there was nothing but a line in the floor panels as a door was never installed. Due to this design flaw, the ship's owner had first had custom work done on the hull of the ship to insure integrity and then widened the doorway to let the deck be one open room, however odd it was to have the two connected.

The lounge contained many items the ship's owner had acquired on his journeys. Of the items, the strangest was likely a collection of lavish couches in various colors and of distinctly different origins. For example, where one couch was green, furry, and abstract, the one next to it was black and silver, contemporary, and very classy. To the guests that occasionally travel with him, the captain was a collector of oddities. He never told them that those particular "oddities" were worth over twenty-thousand credits each.

A woman, seated on one such couch, stood and gracefully traversed the space between the lounge area and the observation area of the open deck. She reached the main viewing station podium and paused to take in the feel of the room. She took in a deep breath and slowly let it back out again.

Consoles lined the viewing area walls bleeping and humming. These noises produced a steady rhythm that helped keep her at ease; it was what she was used to. It was strange how things that were once annoyances seemed to calm her nerves now simply because they were familiar. She could smell the sterile scent of computer utilities but that too didn't seem as repulsive as it normally would.

A large window gave a panoramic view of the space outside the ship. The water below shone its bright blue, which greatly contrasted with the deep black of the night sky that seemed to engulf it. It was beautiful, she thought, though this sight had never seemed worth noticing to her before.

But then, everything seemed more beautiful tonight, she admitted reluctantly to herself. She realized her bias; tonight was the night she'd been waiting for; this was the night that she'd get back the thing that would make her life whole. Why would everything not seem more vibrant on a day like today?

She pressed a button on the console closest to her and smiled. A complicated topographical map appeared on the display. Though she'd never seen this particular terrain before in her life, she knew this was the place. It had to be; her research had not led her astray she was sure.

Yes, she thought, in only a few hours' time she'd have her daughter back in her arms. And then, her family would be whole. She thought for a moment about what that would be like. Her family had never been in such a state. Her mother had died soon after her birth and she'd never known her father. After that she couldn't really say she'd had a family; it wasn't until the births of her children that she'd ever felt a true familial connection. Shortly after that, however, her daughter had been kidnapped, and the family had been in turmoil ever since.

The woman nervously reached behind her back to fix a strand of hair protruding from the bun at the nape of her neck. When the hair slid back out of place, she sighed. What would her daughter think coming home to such an unkempt mother?

Her clothes, while elaborate in design, were dirty with sweat from the extensive amount of time she's spent pacing in her anxious impatience. Her hair was more tangled than she liked to admit it could ever have gotten.

She knew inside it didn't matter; the bond of parent to child was too great to be compromised by a messy first impression, not to mention the "accommodations" they'd made would clear up any resistance or fear in the girl. Everything would be fine.

Sixteen years; it'd been sixteen years since her daughter's kidnapping, the woman mused. Though the criminal had been apprehended early on, he'd pleaded his innocence until he was engulfed by his own guilty silence. Not long after the investigation had begun, they'd searched his laboratory and found he'd been so careless as to leave the incriminating documents on his desk. A short legal proceeding had followed, ending in his eventual exile. After much review, her family had a general idea of where to search for their missing child. It had taken all the strength the family could muster; the research involved in deciphering the documents was more difficult than any challenge her family had ever been faced with. Eventually they'd narrowed the range of locations to one possible place.

She looked at her clock. Five minutes, she thought. It felt like eternity. She fidgeted uncomfortably where she stood, almost unable to bear the intense feelings that she was harboring. It was almost time, she thought, almost.

She was only waiting on her brother who was approaching the rendezvous point. Her husband had gone with him and it always took the two longer than it should to do anything as they tended to have differing opinions about how things should be done in any given situation. She'd wanted her husband to accompany her on her ship, but he insisted that he needed the breathing room with all of the monumental changes that would be being made in the next few days. She understood, after all, these changes would be permanent. They would affect them forever.

The woman's smile now became a grin; now it was time. Deliberately preventing herself from shaking with the excitement of the moment, she picked up the comm. "It's time," she said, "All systems go; let's do this."


	4. Chapter 2

She awoke.

Her ears were ringing. She felt the hard grate floor beneath her pushing into her back. It was extremely uncomfortable. She reached a hand between her back and the floor and sighed. It would definitely leave grid mark.

She lingered in this pained state before finally gathering the strength to open her eyes. Every muscle in her body ached; she'd obviously had a mighty big tumble.

When she did, she looked up into the familiar eyes of a boy who was hovering over her. "Well, that was exciting. You OK?" he asked.

"What?" she asked without much enunciation. Dazed, she sat up.

She thought she remembered something but it kept floating just out of reach. The planet, the city, the people… These things in her mind all seemed familiar and comforting. But they were not here; they were only memories that were distant and fleeting.

She looked around the room. It was stoic and completely unfamiliar. The two beds, a sink, and a door to a refresher unit in the room's small space seemed to beg to be remembered, but nothing came to her. All the cabinetry and end tables were made of some form of shiny metal which she couldn't identify, and everything looked too new to be part of the world she was recalling as she faded into consciousness.

Her thoughts became more focused. Her mind began to show her a picture of a building; she could see it as clear as day. It was an old brick building with tables and chairs and desks. She pondered for a moment, recalling the building's uses and purpose, and name.

She frowned as the boy studied her face intently.

"You had quite the fall," the boy said, "or should I say quite a big hit."

She wasn't paying any attention at all to his words; she was still trying to figure out what was going on and clear her head. "A school…" she thought aloud, trying to jog her own memory. Yes, it was definitely a school. "I see a school in my mind…" She stopped to formulate her question before asking it. "Have I ever been to a school?" Somehow she knew he knew.

"What are you talking about, Jaina?" the boy asked, "You mean the Jedi Academy, on Yavin 4? That's the only school I know of that we've seen." He seemed a bit hesitant, like he wasn't quite sure in what he was saying. He smiled warmly as though to draw less attention to this lack of confidence.

She thought for a moment, puzzled by her own thoughts. The room was becoming clearer to her; it was more familiar than before. As her grogginess faded, she looked into the boy's eyes. "Jaina, are you alright?" the boy asked rephrasing his question slightly. His smile faded and he looked genuinely concerned. His lip trembled a little, like he was afraid, but it soon passed.

"Jaina?" she asked in confusion. The name seemed foreign to her, but also strangely familiar. She didn't understand her own confusion; it was bothering her.

"You…That's your name…you're Jaina, I'm Jacen…last time I checked anyway," he said with a chuckle. He smiled again to try to reassure her that everything was ok.

She frowned, uncertain whether to believe him or not. She shook her head to try and clear her thoughts. It didn't work. She wondered how long it would be before she was able to think clearly again.

"I'm your brother…" Jacen continued, hoping to jog some sort of recognition in her deep brown eyes.

Nothing.

Jacen looked deep into her eyes as if he were willing some form of recognition upon her. He seemed to desperately want her to know who he was, and who she was for that matter. He closed his eyes.

Something about this moment made it all click. Jaina's life flooded back to her in a sudden rush of memory. Her eyes focused and she looked at Jacen with a shocked face. "Wow…" she said, shaking her head a little, "how the heck did I…" She knew now she'd hit her head; now she knew a lot of things.

"I told you to buckle up," Jacen continued, "I guess you weren't quick enough?" His smile returned to his face, "You realize you did a face plant on the wall, right? And here Uncle Luke thought you might be broken. You are more resilient than anyone in the galaxy.

"I must have hit my head pretty hard…" Jaina said, remembering the sudden take off, "For a moment, I really did wonder who I was." Her head throbbed, "Should I go to the medic for any signs of a concussion?" Her head was throbbing.

"Nah," Jacen said, a bit quicker than usual. "Uncle Luke stopped for a bit on his way to Yavin 4 to talk to Mom. He docked for a bit and he made sure you were alright." Jacen looked uncomfortable. "He did say you'd be a little disoriented, but that no real harm was done." Jacen shifted his feet slightly as he spoke, and then reached a hand down to help Jaina to her feet.

Jaina flinched and pulled away from his outstretched hand. Unsure of the problem, Jacen pulled away and crouched to his sister's level in her position on the floor. She seemed to relax a little. Jacen reached to touch her shoulder in comfort. Again she instinctively pulled away.

"What's wrong?" Jacen asked, clearly surprised by his sister's apparent fear of his touch. "I…I don't know," Jaina stammered, "Something about your hand sends cold shivers down my spine." She was both frightened and confused. In all her time growing up with her brother, she had never feared him.

As she contemplated her reaction to her brother, she tried to think of any time in the past that could be linked to her fear now. Nothing came to mind, but each time he reached for her, she felt as though more than three people's hands were trying to grab her. It made her feel claustrophobic, if nothing else.

A flash of memory hit her like a speeder bike collision: The school, the dance, the boy, and the other boy pulling her away… She'd been at a dance at the school, it had been homecoming. She remembered the decorations, the colored lights and the tinsel left over from the Christmas' past. She remembered the boy, Bowen, her long-time crush, with his curly brown hair and winning smile. She'd been trying to get him to notice her, but he ran with the popular crowd. But he had asked her to dance, and they'd kissed, hadn't they? Or had they? She looked in horror at Jacen.

Though she didn't remember the moment of contact between her Bowen and her own, she did remember being rushed out by none other than her brother Jacen, to the sounds of the laughter of the jovial girls at the dance. But she didn't feel like she knew him then; for some reason she couldn't explain, it was like they'd never met. But all the same, she'd left the dance, perfectly comfortable with following him outside…and now…

"Jacen," Jaina began, "I don't belong here; I belong somewhere else. This isn't my home…"

"Jaina," Jacen said in a calm voice, "Maybe we should get you to the medic. You could be right about that concussion. Despite her flinching, Jacen reached out and turned her head toward his own with his hand. He looked deep into her eyes.

Suddenly Jaina felt calm. She let Jacen help her up. "I don't need to go to the medic," she said, "I trust Uncle Luke's judgment." She paused, trying to weigh the options as of whether to ask her question or not. She decided she needed to know. "Jacen?" she asked, "What just happened to me?" She was scared that she was losing her mind. Was that a form of psychosis?" she asked. She was shaking.

"No, Jaina," Jacen said with a smile, "you told me about a dream about a school last night; I think it had something to do with a dance. I'm pretty sure that what happened is that, when you hit your head so hard, your mind confused the memory of the dream instead of real life for a moment." His warm smile returned, "Are you sure you're OK? It was only a dream, Jaina," Jacen found himself coaching her, "just let it go; too much confusion will cause more life problems than a vivid dream now and then. Come on, let's get to sleep; tomorrow will come faster if we rest and we'll be home on Coruscant by lunchtime."

Jaina nodded. She let her mind relax and push the dream to the very back. Though Jacen had indicated for her to erase her memory of the dream, she couldn't bring herself to do it. She didn't want to let it go completely; part of her was telling herself it might be important later.


	5. Chapter 3

Exile.

It wasn't as pleasurable as he'd first assumed, Dapnad thought. He'd originally made the assumption that separation from those who had persecuted him would be bliss compared to the prejudices of his home galaxy. But no, isolation wasn't so isolated even in the Outer Rim. There were still those who didn't want him there. Couldn't he just live in peace?

The Outer Rim was a place filled with bandits and criminals who'd been exiled, along with the more violent of species who were not allowed to enter the galaxy. This was not a place that he, Dapnad Flupps, belonged by any stretch of the imagination.

He'd already gotten into a few quarrels with a few seedy characters and didn't like to admit that he'd lost those fights, but he had.

One time he'd even been attacked by a bunch of small furry creatures who claimed to be from Alpha Centauri. They looked cute enough; Dapnad had thought that the time, but he had soon learned that their firepower was not to be reckoned with. He wished he could return home, but he knew he didn't have one anymore.

A buzz notified him he had a call coming through on the comm. The loud vibration shook the console where the transmitter lay.

Dapnad started at the noise. He hit his head on the celling of his cockpit and cursed. He hated being abnormally tall; he was taller than the average Gungan. He didn't want to talk to anyone; he wasn't in a good mood.

"Are you the one they call Flupps?" a booming, authoritative voice came through the transmission.

Dapnad had half the mind to say no, he wasn't but he knew they already knew. Whoever they were, he didn't want to talk to them, though, and didn't want to put up with whatever they had to say. He wanted to be alone.

"Missa Dapnad Flupps," Dapnad replied coolly, his voice cracking with the dryness of his dehydrated vocal chords, "Who doin my da pleasure of speak to?" Though he spoke the classic, Gungan Basic like most Gungans, his voice carried more weight and power than that of his predecessors. It had to, he thought; he'd been through too much for it not to.

He thought about how else he'd been affected by his past. He sighed. His skin, for one, had once been the green of the plant life beneath the oceans of Naboo. Now it had become a dark purple, which also resulted from dehydration, and his head tails were no longer full fans, but instead were wrinkled and gnarled.

"Dapnad Flupps," the voice repeated angrily, "we have on record that you have been exiled from this galaxy for a class five offense with no parole. Please cross the border and be on your way."

Dapnad knew a class five offenses was no laughing matter. Class five was as bad as crimes were classified; usually only murder or an extreme disservice to a monarch was class five offenses. He knew his charges. When he'd first been convicted, he'd fought the allegations with all he'd had, but he'd soon learned better than to fight the law. Had he continued his fight, it would have been his corpse, not his living self that was sent off across the border of the galaxy. "Flupps!" the loud voice came over the comm again. Dapnad snapped to. He hadn't been listening; he'd been lost in thought.

"Get moving or we'll have to make an arrest. By the order of Naboo…"

Dapnad was scared at first, and then he realized what had been said: Naboo. Had Dapnad heard him right? He had been convicted under the jurisdiction of the monarchy, the New Republic. Naboo's monarchy was not only at war with the New Republic, but also had no right to make an arrest on behalf of another monarchy's legal decisions. Something clicked in his mind.

Dapnad ran his fingers along the stick on the control panel. Without another word, he slid his hand to the button atop the stick and pressed down hard. His blaster cannons fired and, since the patrol ship was not prepared for a fight and their defenses were down, the patrol ship was easily destroyed, crew and all.

Naboo was in on it, Dapnad realized. Now he knew. He made up his mind; he would not leave without some attempt to honor the memories of those who had fallen to the powers of these monarchs. He stroked his wrinkled purple head tails thoughtfully. He would win, he thought; somehow he would prevail. Dapnad had always assumed he had no purpose in life, that he simply "was", but now he was beginning to see that he could do something more important if he tried. Any man could rule the universe if he wanted to, with or without the following or the tools, all one needed was a little ingenuity. He told himself it was for the greater good that he stayed and defied the ruling.

He'd done terrible things in his life and he knew it. "Missa no care." he said aloud. He'd done what he had to. And besides, after all they'd put him through, a few "accidents" was nothing when they had far more deaths to their credit.

He would return to the space station, he decided. His laboratory was still there, he knew. No one would dare go to the part of space where he'd left it; that was his purpose in leaving it there, was it not?

Dapnad reached to his side and lifted a round metal object on a chain from within a wooden box; his grandfather's pendant. Dapnad had let him down; he'd let them all down. If he had only stayed and fought with his people… No, he thought, then he'd be dead too. It was them who hadn't been in the right for defending their homeland.

Holding the pendant, he began to recall his grandfather's words on the subject of "honorable futures": "A honorable future is one in which weesa children learn from weesa accidental wrongs and then, in turn, has children to teach no commit da same misdeeds. Dis continues da cycle and evolution of society and therefore, by dis definition, honor is da act of correct weesa mistakes and future is weesa children who ganna observe and learn no to make these mistakes at all."

Dapnad knew that the Place with No Water housed the remnants of the Gungan future. It would be the only chance he'd have to restore the Gungans to their former glory. He did, after all, miss his lab; he'd had to leave so suddenly, for that biased joke they'd called a trial. But he knew he had the research in the works to get down to the bottom of the mystery of what was really going on and save what was left of what still mattered.; even if it meant more lies, more treachery, and more killing.

If his grandfather's soul had made it to Ossorus and Oma-Oma had let it in, which it was almost certain it had, he would be proud of Dapnad someday. Dapnad could feel his grandfather's presence in everything he did, guiding him, helping him, pushing him to action.


	6. Chapter 4

The ride back to the Coruscant apartment had been uneventful, Jaina noted with great displeasure. She had secretly been wishing for more than a bump on her head in the realm of excitement.

The apartment was very modern. The lacquer tables and chairs had been designed especially to Han and Leia's tastes as had everything in every room. Even the napkin rings were custom and bore the crest of Queen Leia Organa.

Jaina wondered why they'd gone to so much expense for so little value. The items in the rooms were sometimes so discretely different that any passerby would think they'd been bought in an ordinary furniture shop.

Only a true collector of such things would know any different, Jaina thought. It wasn't like the sometimes regal and important guests that her mother entertained were ever going to notice, let alone be impressed; in simply wasn't the sort of thing anyone really cared about.

Except her mother she thought. Her father didn't care but her mother most certainly did. Everything had to be in order for the visitors that came or her mother would be very nervous and upset. She was sometimes irritated for days when something went wrong at one dinner, and it was an occurrence that recurred often enough that the entire family knew when to avoid Leia's anxious wrath.

But still, nothing ever seemed to happen of any importance or interest in Jaina's opinion. Even after they'd returned home today, life was fairly uneventful. The most that seemed to happen with any certainty were the reoccurring, ongoing arguments between her mother, Leia Organa Solo and her father, Han Solo over the governmental matters of the New Republic monarchy.

The New Republic hadn't always been a monarchy, and sometimes Jaina wondered if her mother and father were better off when they were functions of a democracy rather than regal heads of the monarchy it had become. Being a monarch looked like an extremely hard job to Jaina, and she didn't envy her mother's position.

A yell came from the kitchen area of the apartment. "I told you, Han, we can't go now, we have no one to watch the children."

The kitchen adjoined to the living room by way of a small doorway made of black marble. The floors were marble as well which oddly clashed with the granite of the countertops. Though many a time Leia had asked Han to contact someone to change it, he always said he forgot. In truth, Han liked the countertops the way they were in contrast to the floors. It gave the apartment more of an eccentric feel and he liked some change in the endless monotony of structure.

"Leia, maybe you don't understand," Han said, "I gave my word to Chewie that I'd talk to the governmental heads of Kashyyyk that we'd be there to discuss the slavery issues. That's my word. I don't go back on something like that."

Leia shot him a harsh glance. "And your promise to the Wookies, without my consent, mind you, is more important than having someone to watch our kids? I told you we'd take care of the Wookie situation when it was appropriately time. You're the one who rushed head; it's not my fault your promise must be broken."

"I've said once and I'll say it again, Kyp can watch the kids," Han shot back, with just as powerful a glance as he'd been dealt.

The doorbell on the apartment door buzzed loudly; it sounded like a Geonosian making its clicking noise. Han knew he had to change the battery of the bell. Leia looked her husband dead in the eyes, "Would you like to get the door, dear? I'm afraid I'd tear whoever our guest is to bits if I were to answer it."

Han sighed. Leia could be so emotional when she felt he was out of line. He walked over to the sliding door and pressed the intercom button on the panel next to it. He didn't want company right now; he and his wife were fighting. "Who is it?" he asked.

The voice of a man came through the intercom. "It's me, Durron. I'm here with Calrissian."

A devious look spread over Han's face. "Sure Kyp," Han replied, "I'll let you in, and in exchange can you do me a favor?"

"Let me in and we'll talk," Kyp said. Han noticed the twinge of annoyance in his voice for having been left in the hall.

Han opened the door. A man about Han's age with a long flowing cape and a pale young man, in his early thirties stepped into the room from the hallway.

The man with the cape gave Han a hug. "Hey buddy," he said with a smile, "How's your new edition settling in?"

"Good, Lando," Han replied, "But keep your voice down. The kids are in the next room over."

Lando Calrissian was a smuggler. While this didn't mean he possessed the traits and wishes of smugglers by default, in this case he did. He wanted payment for his job.

"I did well, huh?" Lando pressed Han, "Yeah, old buddy," Han said to him, "but if you're scrounging for a few extra credits, forget it."

Lando wasn't satisfied. "Oh come'on, pal," he said with a lopsided grin," all I'm asking for is a hundred. That's not too much to ask, is it?"

"Lando, I don't have it right now," Han said, "and even if I were lying, you promised that run to me as a favor. I don't take easily to reneged promises. You know that."

Lando let out an exaggerated sigh. "Alright," he said, "This one's on me.

Han turned to the younger man. He was standing silently next to the door he'd come in. Han noticed how much the kid had changed since he'd found him so many years ago. Luke had trained him well and so, Kyp Durron was a picture of a person with an easy going nature, that is, as much as a renegade could have.

Kyp's hair was so dark a brown it could almost be called black; it was unkempt and hung to his shoulders in a manner that seemed as though he didn't care much about his appearance. That was one thing becoming a Jedi Knight hadn't changed in him, Han thought. Kyp was still the slob he'd always been, and likely always would be.

"Hey, kid," Han said, acknowledging him.

"Hey, Han," Kyp replied, "Lando and I actually don't have much time. Master Luke is expecting Lando soon, and I am his escort. We stopped by to tell you that my power cells are exposed and to ask you for help since I can't quite find…"

"I'll get your power cells fixed," Han said, "no problem. But I need you not to hurry off so soon, I have a job I need done, and you're just the man I was looking for."

"Han…I don't know…" Kyp replied, "I promised Master Skywalker I would be back soon. I can't exactly take back a promise to a Jedi Master…" Kyp was only a Jedi knight; the hierarchy of Jedi did not allow for much leniency.

"Kyp, Kyp, Kyp…Luke is my old buddy and brother-in-law," Han gave a winning smile, "It's not going to be too hard for me to convince him that I had to have you do a little work for me because I had no alternative…and the work is also for the kids…"

"You want me to babysit?" Kyp asked with one raised eyebrow. "No, Han, no way, I'm not a babysitter, I'm a Jedi, and I don't do this sort of…"

At this moment Jaina crossed from the refresher unit to her bedroom. Kyp had to stop his head from turning. Though the girl was far younger than him, he was still human and found her to be quite pretty. Han didn't notice his daughter had passed though the room.

"Alright," Kyp conceded to Han, "How long are you going to be gone and can you take Lando to Yavin 4 on your way to Kashyyyk?"

"Yeah, I'll take him…" Han started.

At that moment, Leia entered the entryway. When she saw Kyp, her eyes grew wide, but she soon recomposed herself. "So, dear…you went behind my back…" She was rather annoyed that he would invite Kyp even after she'd expressed her concerns.

Using the Force, Kyp entered Han's mind to retrieve the first hand truth and to assess the situation. So Han had asked him before he had approved it with his wife. He chuckled aloud. "Leia," Kyp said with a smile, "if you don't believe I can watch your kids, ask your brother. Master Skywalker would say he would trust me to the ends of the earth, I believe. If that's not good enough for you, I don't know what is."

Han gave Leia his usual lopsided smile. Leia sighed; he'd won.

"I'll go pack," Leia said, shaking her head in defeat.

"Thanks, kid," Han said, turning to Kyp after Leia's departure for the other room.

"No problem," Kyp responded, "But next time you might want to tell me that Leia is morally opposed to something when you ask me to do it." He grinned ear to ear; he liked to go behind Leia's back, it made him feel sneaky like the old days.

Kyp studied his friend for a moment. He marveled that Han still possessed his entire former spark, though his age had grown significantly numerically.

Leia returned to join the two men. "Alright," she said, "Let's go, Han, and get this over with."

"We'll see you, Kyp," Han said to the young man, and made for the door.

"Han," Leia said, "we have to say goodbye to the kids…" She called Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin into the entryway and explained their sudden decision to go out and leave them in the care of another person.

"Who's going to watch us, mother?" Anakin asked. The young boy hadn't made the connection between Kyp's presence and the announcement of a babysitter.

"Mr. Durron will, honey," Leia told Anakin softly.

"Who's that?" Jaina asked.

The entire family looked at her. Jacen and Anakin's eyes went wide. Han and Leia looked worried, while Kyp on the other hand was completely calm.

"Jacen," he said, "you know who I am, right?"

Jacen appeared to be focusing quite hard on Kyp. Kyp turned his glance to Jaina. "So Jaina, you must know who I am."

In a flash of memory, Jaina did, in fact, know who Kyp was. She knew the same things as her brother, almost to the letter. "Of course," she said, "I was only joking."

Leia nodded at Kyp, as if in thanks, and turned to Han. "You're ready to go then?"

Han gave his wife another winning smile. "Yep," he said, and they exited the apartment, Lando in tow, and left Kyp standing in the entryway with the kids.


	7. Chapter 5

"Tenth day of boredom and counting, Jaina said with a sigh as she crossed with a sigh as she crossed another strike through her tally. "Why is Kyp such a bore?"

"Because," Jacen replied from his seat on the bed next to hers, "He's playing it safe so that Mom and Dad don't get mad."

Jacen and Jaina's beds were situated right next to one another so that one of the twins could easily touch the other's arm if they were so inclined. Their room was fairly small and it had pipes that ran all along the walls. There were no windows in the room but the lack of sunlight was supplemented by many UV lamps that lined the walls.

"I still don't believe Kyp was ever as defiant a renegade as they say he was," Jaina said, dryly. "He seems to be too much of a goody two-shoes to hurt anyone let alone kill them."

Jaina was remembering the story of the Sun Crusher and of the twenty-five thousand innocent people Kyp apparently had to his credit. "I don't believe that he ever did anything besides sit on his butt."

Jacen rolled his eyes; his sister was so impatient. "That's not very nice of you to say," he said.

Kyp walked in to the room to check on them. "Hey guys, how are you doing?" he asked. "Fine? OK. If you want to come and listen to the comm radios with me, it's fine. You guys don't have to keep cooped up in here; Anakin and I are having a great time."

When he'd left, Jaina turned to Jacen.

"Jacen," Jaina hissed, "how can you expect me to feel? We've been sitting here, doing nothing, for ten days! What kind of person enjoys that?"

"I don't mind," he said with a shrug, "and he did invite us to go listen to the comm with him."

Jaina reached over to his bed and gave him a small shove. "Then you can live with it," she said, "The next chance I get I'm going out, whether he likes it or not." She was fed up with the treatment they'd received over the past few days. The food was disgusting, their bedtime was early, and their lives without their parents were quite despicable in Jaina's opinion.

Jacen didn't like to be shoved. He responded by shoving her back only twice as hard as Jaina had shoved him. Jaina, however, was not seated in on her bed in a very stable manner and fell backward off of the bed upon impact with Jacen's hand.

Jacen had quick reflexes and caught her by the ankle before she came crashing to the floor. Jaina hung off the bed suspended by her ankle. He looked down to the floor that was barely beneath her nose.

"Nice catch," Jaina said sarcastically. She reached to the floor to find a point of resistance to allow her to pull herself back onto the bed. She put her hand under the bed and slid it back to find a good position to lift herself from.

What she found was something that she didn't know had been under the bed. She didn't really know anything that was under the bed now that she thought about it. She'd never had the need to look.

She could tell the item was made of metal by the cold slickness she felt when her fingers traced along it. It felt like a bar or a rod.

Jaina yanked at it to try and pick it up. Instead of rising, the bar flipped up on one end and the bed began to shake. Scared, Jacen released Jaina's ankle and jumped from his bed. He released Jaina's ankle and she fell clattering to the floor. "What the…!" Jaina yelled at her brother, "Thanks a lot."

When Jacen made no sound, Jaina had an instant pang of fear. She stood up and frantically looked for him. "Jacen? Jacen?" she called.

He didn't answer.

Finally she heard a groan, and then he spoke, "I'm alright Jaina, but the bed's not." Jacen was lying on the other side of what had been their beds.

Both beds had sunk into the floor and slid to the side. Had Jacen not made his leap, his bed would have slid over him and crushed him. A gaping hole was in between the two beds in the space where the rails had been touching only moments before.

"We'd better tell Kyp," Jacen said, "What'd you do?"

"I pulled at something under the bed," Jaina said dreamily, "it must have been a lever." "I was almost crushed," Jacen said, "We need to tell Kyp. It's a safety hazard."

"Don't worry, I wouldn't let anything happen to you," Jaina said. She wasn't focused on Jacen anymore. Her mind was slipping to something far away and long ago, something that she barely remembered.

The memory became a flashback as Jaina became aware that she was not current self, but instead a small child. It was herself, sixteen years ago. How she knew how long ago it was, she didn't really know. But something inside told her that was the number, and that was the amount of years.

In the memory, she was in the streets of a city. It wasn't like any city she consciously remembered being in, but it still seemed familiar. The buildings towered above her, though she realized that could be attributed to the fact that she was two-years old in the memory.

She found herself in the memory; it wasn't just about the scenery. For some reason, she was running, ducking, hiding and trying to find any way she could of escaping something behind her. The fear of the moment coursed through her veins and her adrenalin skyrocketed.

Then, she saw outstretched arms reaching for her, and lunging for her small body. She realized that this was the source of her fear and continued her search for a place to hide.

An open hole in the ground gaped before her and Jaina now recognized it as a manhole. She doubted she'd known that at the time, but her knowledge now could not be avoided to aid in proper remembering; it was impossible.

She lunged for the open manhole and tumbled through the opening. She fell down, down, down into the sewage waters below. She realized she couldn't swim and began to flounder and drown under the surface of the garbage-filled water.

Odd, she thought, she thought she'd always been able to swim. Obviously that was not the case, or she was dreaming up the entire memory. She didn't know which it was.

Two hands, pure and white, reached down and grasped a hold of Jaina's small shivering body and pulled her out of the dirty waters to safety. Jaina looked up at the woman the hands belonged to.

The lady resembled Winter, her mother's best friend, who had raised the three Solo children from infants. For this reason Jaina felt comforted by the woman's presence. She had thought of Winter like her mother for a long time before accepting that her biological mother, Leia was the one she was supposed to be calling Mom.

The woman smiled at her and warmth radiated from her. "Don't worry," she said, "I wouldn't let anything happen to you."

"Jaina!" Jacen yelled at his sister, "Jaina!" he was extremely worried.

Jaina realized her brother had been standing next to her the entire time she'd been standing there, dumbfounded by thought and memory. She shook her head and focused back on the current day, the current moment. Jacen stood before her; he looked concerned.

Jaina wondered if she should tell Jacen what she had just experienced. "I'm fine," Jaina said, thinking better of the idea, "just lost in thought."

"Let's go get Kyp then," Jacen said. He really felt better when an authority figure was involved, even one as uninvolved as Kyp.

"No," Jaina replied, looking down into the hole, "I want to know what's down there." A strong need to explore the tunnel was growing inside her, as though it were meant to be. "Jaina!" Jacen said in a shocked voice, "you can't just go jumping into holes when you don't know where they go; it's not safe!"

"Come'on, Jacen," Jaina said with a smile. She needed to know what was down there. "Don't be as skittish as a ronto. Let's go."

"How far down is that?" Jacen asked. He was worried that the drop would be too far. The apartment was on an upper level of Coruscant; who knew how far down that hole could go. He wasn't sure he wanted to take chances.

"Looks like a few meters," Jaina said, judging the depth as best she could, "We can make it, without a problem."

Without asking her brother's opinion, Jaina moved to the side of the hole and dropped through. Jacen grumbled, but he knew that the only way to keep his impulsive sister out of trouble was to follow her down there. He too dropped into the hole.

And down they went.


	8. Chapter 6

In actuality, the drop down the hole was quite a bit farther than Jaina had first judged. The twins fell for what seemed like an eternity before finally hitting something solid. When they did, they collided with a riveted metal surface. "Ow," Jacen breathed as he stood up. "That really hurt."

"What'd you expect after falling so far, a soft cushy pillow?" Jaina laughed at her brother. "

No," he said, "but I didn't think…" He stopped himself from arguing and said simply, "Never mind. Jaina didn't press Jacen to tell her what he was thinking. She brushed herself off and looked her brother square in his brown eyes. Her eyes shone back at him with the same color and excitement, "Are you ready for some fun?" Jacen groaned. "Come'on, "Jaina said with a grin, "It'll be an adventure!" The twins looked at their surroundings as best they could. It was dark and dry, not at all reminiscent of Jaina's memory.

Jacen coughed; it was also extremely dusty. He took two paces forward and found the wall; it was covered in grime and filth so deep that the wall was soft and cushioned to his touch. "Dirty old place," Jacen grumbled. "It's an old exhaust pipe," Jaina mused, "one of the ones that have been marked as out of order. No wonder there's so much dust in here; it hasn't been used in ages." "Why was it connected to our bed?" Jacen asked in exasperation, "it doesn't make sense."

"Didn't our room used to be a utility room for temperature management before we were born?" Jaina asked. "I think so," Jacen said. "Then it makes sense," Jaina said matter-of-factly .With that explanation out of the way, Jaina began to walk down the middle of the exhaust pipe to see where it led.

"Jaina," Jacen warned, though following closely behind her, "you don't know where this leads to, if anywhere." He was worried. "What if…" Jaina didn't even look back. She was drawn to find the end of the tunnel, like a scientist is drawn to make a discovery. "Don't worry so much. What can possibly happen?"

Jacen thought he heard a creek, but when Jaina didn't seem to notice it, he shrugged it off as his imagination. He let himself relax. It was ok, he thought, at least they were together. Safety in numbers was the Jacen resolved to think that he was letting his worries manifest in auditory form, and so he ignored the strange noises that came and went from the pipe around them.

They walked, with Jaina in the lead, for several minutes before they came to a fork in the pipe. Jacen wanted to go back, now the possibility of getting lost was imminent.

On the left, the pipe angled slightly downward and then veered to the left to apparently cross under the pipe on the right. To the right, the pipe went straight up and bridged over the pipe on the left.

"We need to go back," Jacen said, "Kyp has no idea where we are." He assumed it was past dinner, but he couldn't be sure, as he had left his watch on the nightstand. "We're going to get in trouble."

"Nonsense," Jaina countered, and pondered which way to go. "Let's take the one the left," Jaina said, "it looks more fun."

"Jaina," Jacen said, "the one to the left doesn't look safe." He noticed the way it seemed to be swaying from side to side, just slightly, and felt uneasy.

Jaina took a deep breath. She knew that it was her brother's adventure too; he got to make some of the decisions. "Ok," she said, "to the right it is."

Jacen and Jaina climbed the incline of the right-hand branch of the pipe with a good amount of ease, however, when they reached the top, they were out of breath and had to stop to regain their stamina.

Jaina placed her hand against the left-hand wall of the pipe to support herself as she panted. The entire pipe shifted to the left with a loud groan.

"Don't move!" Jaina urgently warned to her brother, as if he didn't already know.

She gently removed her hand from the wall. Nothing moved. She breathed a sigh of relief and took a step backward. A clicking noise could be heard from above them. It grew louder and louder until finally they heard a snap.

Butterflies raced to their stomachs as the pipe fell and crashed into the pipe below. In turn, the pipe below came loose and it too fell down into the depths of the city.

When it came to a stop, it took the twins a moment to realize they were no longer moving. Their heads were spinning.

Jacen felt sick to his stomach. The world spun around him. Eventually, he threw up.

Jaina was staring into space in awe.

"What are you looking at," Jacen asked her, annoyed that she hadn't even acknowledged the fact he had been sick.

"I was just thinking," Jaina said, "We would have been crushed if we'd gone my way."

It was true, Jacen thought; the left pipe had fallen with only have being barely touched by the pipe they were in. They would have traveled down only part of the sloped decline before the pipe would have come loose and fallen. Only the left pipe didn't have another pipe beneath it to cushion its fall.

Despite the remnants of sickness on his clothes, Jaina gave Jacen a scared hug. She had never intended for this to happen. She was realizing the gravity of their situation. They were stuck, and lost.


	9. Chapter 7

After having realized their situation, the twins set out to somehow find their way back to the apartment. It wasn't long before they realized how deep into the underworlds of Coruscant they were. It wasn't a hard thing to notice; as they exited the pipe they walked down into a place that resembled a clearing in the filth and broken bits of pipe.

Old spaceships lined the edge of the cleared space. All was quiet; it looked as though the ships hadn't been attended to in over a hundred years. One ship in particular that drew Jacen and Jaina's attention was an old frigate unlike any they had ever seen before; in the midst of all the grungy looking starships, this one seemed to gleam in a pristine way that left them in awe. The two approached it cautiously to take a better look at it.

From where they were standing, the wing span looked to be about forty-nine meters long, which was about a third longer than its body. Jacen noted that the laser cannons on each side were deactivated; they were safe.

Without consulting her brother, Jaina scrambled down an imaginary path through the remnants of the pipe to the shiny ship. She touched the side; it was still warm. She pulled her hand away and discovered her hand was still clean. The ship was even more pristine than she had at first thought.

"Jaina," Jacen's voice broke her reverie, "We've got company!"

A bunch of aliens were headed straight for them. Jacen recognized them as Sullustans by their beady black eyes and dewflaps

Obviously they didn't want anyone in the shipyard. Jacen cowered while Jaina stepped up to them to try and talk. "I'm sorry for trespassing," she said, "but you see, we're lost."

The Sullustans spoke in broken Basic. "We no speak Basic," the leader said, "We the Hovy brothers."

"Hovy brothers?" Jaina asked.

The Sullustan responded by saying something she couldn't understand, it was in Sullustese.

"What?" she asked.

Apparently "what" was an offensive word in Sullustese and the Hovy brothers began to make offended noises. Without attempting to communicate or asking any questions, the Hovy brothers opened fire on them.

"What the?" Jaina said in surprise.

Reflex took control of her body and she flung herself into the open hatch of the shiny ship and fond the cockpit. "Jacen, come'on!" she yelled to her brother, who stood, dumbfounded at the sudden attack.

Jacen unfroze. He jumped onto the floor so as to save the time he would have spent scrambling, and ran up into the ship. "Jaina, shut the hatch!" he called to the cockpit.

Jaina's computer expertise and experience launched her into action. She immediately began to press buttons as if she knew exactly where everything was and like she'd flown the ship a million times before.

The aliens began to bang on the newly closed hatch. Jaina tried to launch the ship to flight. Locked.

She ran process after process, attempting to override whatever was locking her out. Then she saw it: Autopilot. She slammed the autopilot button down and the ship launched without any issue at all. She smiled at her own ingenuity. Not many people knew that autopilot had the ability to override a full system lock out; it was a failsafe that her father had taught her.

After takeoff, the ship leveled out and set its course.

"Jaina," Jacen said, trying to be the voice of reason once again, "You don't know where this ship is going. It's probably best you turn off autopilot."

"And get us stranded here, in case they or someone else comes after us?" Jaina shot back, "I don't think so. Let's see where it takes us, who knows, it could be somewhere fun."

Jacen rolled his eyes. His annoyance was the only thing keeping him from being a nervous basket case. He didn't like Jaina's "adventures".

Jaina leaned back in the pilot's chair and relaxed. Wherever they were going, it was going to be a fun ride.

Hours passed and Jacen was starting to really worry. He didn't know how Jaina could just sit there, knowing full well that she had no idea where they were going and be perfectly calm.

Suddenly, an alarm sounded. It blared loudly all over the ship. A mechanical voice came over the speaker, "Close proximity to unknown satellite. This is only a warning."

"Do you think we should be concerned?" Jacen asked his sister.

"Nah," Jaina responded, "I'm sure the computer will take care of it itself. Why else would it be called autopilot?"

The computer spoke again. "Please brace for impact," it said, "Crash imminent."

Jaina whirled around in her seat and stared at Jacen. "What?"

"I guess you shouldn't have so much faith in autopilot," Jacen said, "Looks like we're in trouble!"

Jaina acted quickly and tried to reverse thrusters, but she was still locked out. "I don't know what to…" then it hit her; turn off autopilot.

By now it was clear that their ship was not only going to collide with the satellite, but that it was accelerating as well.

"We're not going to hit it," Jacen yelled, "We're going to ram it!"

Jaina pushed the "autopilot" button again to turn it off and freeze the ship. It was stuck. She put her mind into a calm state. She focused on the life energy and the Force around her. She took a deep breath. Drawing energy from the force, she reached out with her mind and touched the satellite and found its hanger door. She tried to tilt it to the side so as to make a perfect path to enter it. She also attempted to open the hanger door. It was too much for her. "Help me…" Jaina murmured.

Jacen saw at once what she was trying to do. He too focused on the satellite and its hanger door. Together they were able to shift it a little, then a little more. "An object in motion stays in motion…" Jaina quoted, but from where she didn't know.

With a final push, the satellite was in position and the hanger door opened just wide enough to let the ship through. They slid in just before they were too weak to keep it open any longer, and the ship slammed into the hanger bay of the satellite.

The twins ached from the impact but were too afraid to stay put. They needed to know their surroundings and if there was anything hostile around them.

"Well," Jacen said, "Here we are; some adventure this was."

"We'd better go out and see where we are," Jaina said, "the ship's too damaged; the computer is so far beyond repair that I don't think I could override the lockout with a hack if I had a million years.


	10. Chapter 8

The twins were met by a still silence upon exiting into the satellite's hanger. There was no sign of life anywhere. Though it seemed almost too quiet, they did not feel anxious. Three was only the unexplainable air of sadness that surrounded them.

The hanger was rather large but stark; not a single decoration adorned its walls. On the lower level lay at rest a few unattended maintenance jobs, while the upper level had many silver doors with writing in a language that was very different from Basic.

Looking up at them and straining their eyes, Jaina and Jacen could not make out even the first word of the doors' labels.

"I hope those aren't warnings…" Jacen said. The feeling that something had occurred here to bring such a silence filled him with the need for caution.

The twins, leaving their renegade shuttle behind, walked to one of the many doors. Jacen hesitated before pressing the button to enter the room.

"Are you sure?" he asked his sister.

"Come on Jacen…" Jaina replied and with that placed her hand upon his, and pressed the button. The door did not make a sound as it slid open and revealed a small corridor into the main part of the satellite.

Though the walk down the corridor was short, it felt to the Jaina and Jacen that they had walked for a thousand meters. Their muscles were growing tired just from the short time they'd been inside the satellite. At the end of the corridor was another door. It too slid open in silence, revealing a sight that left them in awe. On the other side of the door was a massive control room which was filled with computer bay after computer bay. The individual bays seemed to be separated by their purposes and uses as could be seen by the different types of devices at each of the computers in each bay.

At the center of the room was a clear circular viewing pane from which the dark sky above could be seen, as well as the blue-green planet below. These, however, were not what left the Solo twins in the state of shock they had arrived at, it was in fact that at each of the computers, lay a cat-like creature that looked to be asleep, though not breathing heavily enough to be seen.

"Are they sleeping or not?" Jaina whispered. "And what are they?"

"Noghri," Jacen whispered back, with a look of sorrow on his face, "and I don't think they're sleeping. I don't sense their lives' energies in the Force. I think they're dead."

This idea flooded over Jaina and Jacen. They allowed themselves to feel the shock and then the sudden, unexpected pangs of grief.

"They look so peaceful," Jaina said, still whispering into the silence. "Whatever it was, they didn't see it coming," Jacen whispered in return. He thought for a moment. "That means we won't see it coming either."

He looked urgently at Jaina. She'd sat down on the floor and was stretching her legs. They were so sore, she thought, which was unusual.

"Jaina, get up now!" Jacen said in a loud voice, shattering the quiet reverie of the room. "Shhhh…" Jaina said in horror. "Have you no respect for the dead?"

"I have plenty of respect for them," Jacen shot back in a louder voice, "but I don't want to die here alongside them."

"Huh?" Jaina's confusion was plainly visible on her face. She swayed from side to side and her eyes began to be heavy.

"Jaina," Jacen said frantically, "now! Let's go! Let's get out of here!"

"How could we die the way they did," Jaina said with a yawn, "whatever killed them is already long gone by now, I'd imagine."

Jacen pondered this. He let his mind slip a little. It soared out into the room where the dead creatures peacefully lay, and then beyond into the realm of possibilities and logic; then he brought it back. "Not if they were gassed with a sleeping agent." It all made sense to him now. "Jaina, stay awake!" he yelled at his sister, "we've got to get out of here; there's deadly gas in the ventilation!"

Jacen put all of his focus into his sister's mind, attempting to clear it. Had he been as powerful as his Uncle Luke, this would have been an easy feat to accomplish. But he was nowhere near as talented as his uncle; not yet at least.

Jaina began to regain full consciousness. The energy provided by her brother's mind, allowed her to snap back to attention. "Let's get back to the shuttle!" Jaina said hurriedly and made for the corridor.

"No," Jacen replied, stopping her, "The shuttle's busted. We need to find an escape pod, and fast."

The twins searched high and low, in every place seeming that it could house a shuttle bay with escape pods. They looked behind every door they could find in the satellite, but no escape pods, or shuttle bays other than the one they'd blasted in on were to be found. They tried reading signs, but since they could not read anything written on the ship's signs, they came up empty handed.

In frustration, Jaina pounded her fist against the viewing pane. To her surprise, it went through the viewing pane. "It's a hologram, Jacen," she said. Hesitantly, both of the Solo twins stepped into the middle of the hologram to find themselves in an odd room. There was an alien panel on the side of the wall that had many different colored buttons on it. Not wasting any time, Jacen pushed a few random buttons and waited to see if there was a reaction.

"What are you doing?" Jaina yelled at him, "You could break it!" She sighed. "I'm the mechanical one." She studied the panel carefully and then pressed the button that, to her, looked most like a "start" or "engage" button. A glittery white light surrounded them. It whirled and swirled mixing in flecks of gold in its white light.

Then, the gold flecks grew brighter until it was unable to see the white light through it. All of a sudden, the white light flashed again, even stronger than the gold, then the entire glow and hologram vanished. Jaina and Jacen were no longer inside room where the light had been. They were somewhere else entirely.


	11. Chapter 9

When they had rematerialized, they were on a planet that seemed very familiar to Jaina. It was far different from Coruscant or Yavin 4, so she didn't know how it could possibly look as familiar as it did. When she and Jacen were exploring, it was almost as if she knew where everything was and where she was going. It was very odd.

They were in a small town with roads and cars and other things that Jaina knew the name and purpose of, but didn't know why. She knew street names before she saw them, she knew more than what a car was, but also what brand some of the symbols on them meant they were made by/

Jacen seemed uncomfortable; in fact he was so uncomfortable that he was displaying how nervous he was in both his speech and his actions. He was beginning to stammer when he spoke as well as twitch slightly like a scared rabbit.

Jaina noticed something was wrong. Eventually she asked him. "Jacen," she started, "you're acting really funny. Is something up?"

Jacen looked as though her question scared him. "No, he said nervously, "why would you think that?"

Jaina had to know. "Tell me, Jacen," she demanded, "tell me now."

He looked pathetically at the ground and stood in silence, though he moved quite a bit; he couldn't stand still. He felt his sister staring him down, and eventually he broke. "You've been here before," he said quickly, as if he thought if he spoke quickly enough she would be satisfied but would not gain the knowledge of the content.

"I've what…" Jaina said.

"I told you, you don't need to hear it again," Jacen said.

"I heard you the first time," Jaina said, "I just don't remember any such thing." She was so confused. Part of her wanted to believe him because of her familiarity with the place, but she had no memory of it at all.

They walked through the town, until something crossed Jaina's field of vision that made her stop. A manhole; the manhole; the very same manhole, she was sure. She walked up to it and touched its surface. She was starting to believe her brother.

"Why don't I remember this place," she asked him, "why did I forget?"

Jacen reluctantly conceded to tell her. "Mom and Dad had Uncle Luke wipe your memory," he said.

"Of one visit?" she asked. It didn't make sense.

"Of the sixteen years of your life you spent here calling it home," Jacen corrected her.

"What…" She was shocked. "But I remember spending all that time with you," she proclaimed, "I remember being with you all those years doing the same things." She realized what had happened. "All the memories we've shared…"

Jacen knew she'd caught on. He looked sheepishly away.

"I didn't know Kyp at first because I never knew him," she spoke her revelation aloud. "I'd never met him before."

Jacen nodded. He didn't want to say anymore.

"Why did they do this?" Jaina asked him.

Jacen shrugged; he didn't know. He'd simply been asked to play along.

A girl approached them. "Jaina!" she yelled, "You haven't been in school for forever, what's up?"

Genevieve. The name flooded back to Jaina.

"Hey, Gen," Jaina said, recalling the nickname, "I'm sorry I haven't been in school, I've suffered some memory loss."

"Oh, God," Gen said, "have you been seeing a doctor?"

"Yes," Jaina lied, "and he said I have to…erm…" she looked to Jacen.

"He said she had to regain them through experience," he made up.

"I see," Gen said, "and who are you?"

"This is my friend, Jacen," playing along with the obvious fact that Gen didn't know that she had a brother.

Jacen shot a nasty glace at her for saying "friend" instead of "brother", but Jaina knew she had to play it safe. She didn't want any outside knowledge to get onto this planet that perhaps it wasn't ready for or that could get her into trouble.

"I'm so glad you're OK though," Gen said, "I would hate to think you'd be ill."

Jaina looked surprised at the sentiment. She wasn't used non-family caring much at all.

"Well, I am your best friend," Gen said indignantly, "I'm allowed to worry."

"I suppose," Jaina said, still playing along.

"Come see the school," Gen said, "I figured you wouldn't be back soon enough to enroll for senior year, are you a year behind then?"

"Yes,"Jaina said, frantically trying to find a way to remember her past, "I'm…"

"You're a junior not a senior. Do you have senior allowances?" Gen inquired.

"I don't know," Jaina said, and she didn't, those sorts of detail were not saved in her minimal remaining memory; she barely even remembered Gen.

The three of them walked to the school grounds and looked around as Gen had things he needed to work on. "I've got a paper to get done," Gen admitted, "are you two ok on your own for a little bit while I go to the computer lab?" she asked the twins. "I have summer privileges."

"We're fine, thanks Gen," Jaina responded. She didn't want to put Gen out of the way.

No sooner had Gen left for the computer lab, a boy and a posse of girls approached them. Jaina knew him at once; Bowen.

"Hey Bo," she said, her voice filled with more confidence than she felt, "What's up?"

Bo looked at her with a minor dislike. He was a tall and thin boy. Everything about his was pristine and sculpted. Jaina remembered she'd liked him. And they'd kissed…right?

Bo noticed who he was talking to and how they looked and was taken aback. He was surprised at well-dressed Jaina was, and was again surprised that she was standing before him at all. He had overheard her conversation with Genevieve and knew that she'd suffered memory loss. He decided to take advantage of the situation.

"Girls," he said to his posse, "I'll be with you ladies shortly. I'd like to spend some time with Jaina here."

The girls walked off to get coffee and left Jaina, Jacen and Bo standing in the school hallway.

"I missed you, honey," Bo said to Jaina.

"I missed you too," Jaina lied. She wanted to know more about her past relationship with Bowen, "but I'll be honest, I don't remember much of what went on around here."

"I'll tell you all about it," Bo said, "What are good boyfriends for?"

Jaina smiled at him and waited for him to speak again.

"We've been dating quite some time," he said, "we were at the dance and I was about to kiss you for the first time, but your friend here wanted to take you outside for some reason and I didn't see you again until now."

"That was right," she thought, she was Bo's girlfriend. It must customary to wait to kiss until you really know a person, in this culture, she thought. She didn't know but that's what she got from what he was saying.

Jacen glared at Bowen. Something was wrong with this picture; it wasn't being told as he remembered it. Was his perception off, or was Bowen a liar?

Bo ignored Jacen's glare. "Well," he said, "it's good to have you back."

Over the next few days Jaina spent almost all of her time with Bo. It was his summer break, so it wasn't hard for him to make the time. For the life of her, Jaina couldn't remember the name of the planet they were on. She wanted to ask Bo, but she wasn't sure that it wouldn't make her look like an idiot. For some reason she instinctively cared how she appeared to not only him, but anyone from the planet they were on.

She eventually broke down and asked, "Bo, what's the name of our planet?"

"Earth," he told her and then inquired as to how she could forget. That was common knowledge.

She confided in him about her life in space and all that had happened but she was shocked to find he was not surprised in the slightest. "You were always a bit different," he said.

The twins stayed with Genevieve in her parent's house. Jaina didn't mention once about going to dinners and parties with Bo; she assumed that Gen knew. But when Bo called on the last day of the summer, Gen answered and realized who she was talking to. She hung up at once. "Jaina!" she said, "You won't believe what just happened!" she was laughing hysterically, "Bowen just called, you know, from school? He actually acted like you two were dating, what a nut!"

"I don't see what's so funny," Jaina said, "we are."

Genevieve went silent. "What?" she asked in an accusatory tone. "After he used and humiliated me? You fell for that?"

"Bo? Use and humiliate you? I don't believe it," Jaina retorted.

Gen muttered something under her breath.

"What?" Jaina asked her, not having understood her words.

"Get out of my house!" Gen yelled, "If you're too naive to tell the difference between when someone is telling the truth and when someone is lying, get out! If you are too naive to know when someone is being a true friend or when someone is being a fake boyfriend, get out!"

Jaina packed the few things she had quickly and made for the door, Jacen at her heels.

Gen followed them out. "I hope for your sake he doesn't do to you what he did to me, Jaina!" Gen called after her. "I'm here as your friend when you see the light. Remember, friends save friends and that's what I'm trying to do!"


	12. Chapter 10

Getting out of Genevieve's house without being beaten with a wooden spoon was only the first tricky thing that Jacen and Jaina had to do. They also had to escape the irate Kyp Durron as he approached them. He'd just landed.

"What did you kids do?" he asked furiously, "you realize that the deaths of four hundred Noghri are said to be your fault? I assume there is an explanation?" He didn't know it could happen; He was put in charge of three teenagers and he had lain down for only a moment and many beings just turned up dead.

"We didn't kill anyone," Jaina said, "they were dead when we got there." She was thoughtful for a moment, and then spoke again. "How come you didn't tell me that I was tricked into thinking I'd always lived on Coruscant, or were you part of that plan too."

Kyp was playing it too cool to show her that he was surprised by her knowledge to that extent of that topic. He didn't want to get into it with her, lest he say something that would give her more knowledge than she already had.

"You've been accused of murder and you're talking about petty crimes?" Jaina and Jacen looked at one another.

"Murder?" Jacen asked. He gulped.

"The Noghri are dead and you two are the only ones that their satellite has recorded of being present there," "Kyp explained. "What did you think you were doing?" He truly believed that the twins had something to do with the deaths of the innocent Noghri. The Noghri were the only ones that had been willing to do Queen Organa's bidding and watch over the planet of Earth like it was a sanctuary of unspoiled life. Everything was more primitive there and so, until it became a civilization that was actually more advanced, it was treated as a nature preserve for the means of an evolutionary study.

"We didn't kill anybody," Jacen said, "honest."

Kyp wanted to believe them, but the facts were so solid. "Your trial will reveal what is true, whether it's as you say or not," he said.

"Trail?" the twins shouted in unison.

"Innocent until proved guilty, right?" Jaina asked.

"That when the New Republic was a Democracy," a female voice smoothly said.

It was the woman from Jaina's memory that she'd had when they found the trap door.

"Now with their unfounded monarchy, they are rather, how shall I put it, more barbaric," the woman implored.

"Who are you?" Kyp demanded of her.

"One who will offer these children asylum if they choose it," the woman said, "one by the name of Kiki."

"You could do that?" Jaina asked her, surprised by her power.

"Yes," Kiki said, "of course I can. I am counselor and acting queen of Naboo. I don't fall under the jurisdiction of the New Republic."

Jaina turned to Jacen. He looked a little leery of Kiki. "We can get off Scott free then!" Jaina said.

"You can come to Naboo until this misunderstanding all blows over," Kiki stated with a warm smile. "Come, be our guests," she turned to Jaina, "or maybe more."

"What?" Jaina asked, easily picking up on the implied importance of herself to Kiki, "what do you mean, 'or maybe more'?"

"Our queen under whom our hierarchy falls is that of Her Royal Highness Queen of Naboo, Padme Neberrie Amidala. Do you recognize this name?"

"That's my grandmother on my mom's side," Jaina said.

"Yes," Kiki said, "Which makes you directly in line to be queen. If you so choose, of course." She smiled an encouraging smile.

Jaina trusted Kiki; she trusted her to the ends of the Earth. She didn't know why. She'd never met her before, or if she had, it simply meant that her manhole flashback had been real, and that certainly wasn't enough to judge a person on.

Jaina's rational mind aside, she did trust Kiki.

"Do you take my asylum and my pass to the planet of Naboo, Lady?" Kiki asked Jaina.

"We don't really have much choice," Jaina responded. "Thank you for your hospitality."

"Of course, Lady," Kiki said. "And you may stay as long as you'd like. Though one usually needs the permission of an official to stay without a visa on a planet at war with their own, I expect the rules could be bent for our rightful queen's return."

Jaina liked the sound of that; Queen Jaina. It had a ring to it. "We'll see about queen after we're extricated from the murder of the Noghri."

"As you see it fit, Lady," Kiki responded calmly and gently.

Jaina also liked the sound of "Lady" and "Her Royal Highness". Depending on how hard the job was, she could get used to that kind of treatment. Her gut feeling was that the charges wouldn't be dropped against her and her brother. Any government's law looked for an easy fix, not one that made any sort of sense at all.

Kiki looked defiantly at Kyp and spoke again, "He on the other hand," she said, gesturing to him, "will be imprisoned for the attempt to bring the rightful queen of Naboo to the courts without any form of reliable charge."

Jaina wasn't too sure she agreed with this ruling, but it wasn't hers to make and after all, Kyp hadn't even asked "if" they had done what he proposed, instead he had asked why. He obviously didn't have irrefutable proof; what he was saying wasn't true.

"Let's go then," Jaina said, "I'm looking forward to another new sight. I could get used to traveling the galaxy and seeking out new places to explore. It's fun."

"Jaina," Jacen reminded her, "we don't know this woman and we don't know what her motives are. How can you be so sure she is even telling the truth? I'm not sure it's wise to go with her, you know?"

"You worry too much, Jacen." Jaina said. "What could possibly go wrong?"


	13. Chapter 11

Naboo was wonderful, Jaina thought; it was one of the most beautiful places she'd ever seen. The people were wonderful too, so kind and gentle. It was no wonder she'd agreed to take the job of queen.

Her coronation was private and simple. Not much was required of her accept an oath and prayer to the Mother Goddess. Other than that she mostly was asked to sit among the trees in the gardens while the scribes drew up the papers of her linage.

After she was sworn into her queen ship, Jaina became used to the finer things she'd been hoping for. For one thing she was referred to as, Her Royal Highness of Naboo Queen Amidala II. She was given the name of Amidala II because it honored her grandmother, she was told, and family was very important to the Naboo.

Another thing she became used to was the clothing. She was required to wear very lavish gowns at any occasion where she could be seen or heard speak. Though these classically fancy clothes were quite stiff and uncomfortable at times, Jaina didn't mind. In fact, she liked dressing up almost as much as learning about the politics.

She loved to learn, and politics was one of the things she'd never been exposed to in the past. Her mother didn't like to expose Jacen to such things because he tended to worry about the various legalities and ways they could be abused, so Leia had stopped trying. Obviously Jaina herself hadn't actually been there, and only possessed altered memories of her brother's, so she knew about as much as he did when she started her queen-ship.

Her duties began shortly after she was coroneted. She was surprised at how easy they were, and how many of the duties Kiki took on herself. She didn't have to do much at all, in fact, besides make speeches about various promises for good harvesting and to study her political teaching privately, she really did as she pleased and entertained herself most of the time.

Jacen was not happy with Jaina's decision to become queen. The more he knew of her, the more he disliked Kiki and was mistrustful of her motives and actions.

Jaina jokingly stated that he was jealous and simply didn't like Kiki for favoring her, but Jacen knew that these were not his sentiments. Something was seriously wrong with what was going on, he just couldn't place it.

Jacen looked into many ways of finding out what was bothering him about Kiki. He tried asking the people he met on the streets, but all their answers were the same: "The counselor is a great woman."

He tried looking in the historical files and archives in the library, but unfortunately the books that indicated they had the information he wanted were already checked out for the next year out. Jacen knew Kiki was plotting something but he wasn't sure of what yet.

Kiki's actions seemed to be very openly kind to Jaina. There was one incident that occurred that made Jaina question Kiki's motives for a brief second, but no longer.

The situation was that Kiki had told Jaina that all food resources should be sent out to the troops who were looking for a place called "The Place with No Water". Jaina asked why the food should go to the troops when many of the people in the outlying towns were hungry or starving. Kiki explained that the troops were in search of weapons that had been planted by the evil Boss Dapnad Flupps that were meant to destroy anyone that went near them. It was a matter of public safety versus necessity, and she promised that once this hidden weapon storage facility had been found, the food could return to the people.

So using this logic without question, Jaina ruled that the troops get the food. And so the people in the outlying colonies starved.

Jacen was very uncomfortable with this ruling. In his mind and he thought in his sister's the lives of the innocent came before the lives of the troops. She was going against her own moral values. He decided he would tell her how he saw her actions and how they were being influenced by her staff, namely Kiki. Kiki seemed to be more of a ruler than Jaina was, like she'd never given up her post and instead was trying to make her rule legitimate by calling it someone else's.

"Jaina," he said to her, entering her bedchamber one afternoon.

"Yes?" Jaina looked up from her book and saw who it was. "Jacen, do come in, what can I do for you?"

"Jaina," Jacen said, "I hate to have to bring this to your attention, but you're being used. Kiki is up to something, I haven't figured out what yet but it's something, and it's bad."

"Nonsense," Jaina said before he had the time to make his arguments, "Kiki is a very nice likely wholly good person."

"I think you're wrong," Jacen said.

"Well, I think you're wrong," Jaina retorted.

"Well, I think you're a pawn," Jacen yelled, "And I think if you aren't careful someone will get hurt!" and with that he stomped out of the room.

He was leaving, he decided, asylum be damned, he had to go. He would find answers somewhere and he would make her see; Kiki was not a good person by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, he didn't think it was only that she was "not good" but also that she was "inherently evil". He made arrangements to launch a secret shuttle so that Kiki wouldn't try and stop him and also so his sister couldn't object. He left in the middle of the night and set out to find the answers. He didn't know where he was going or who to ask, but he figured that if he was meant to find those answers that they would naturally come to him, somehow.


	14. Chapter 12

Jaina had looked everywhere for Jacen; no note. Why hadn't he left a note? She went to Kiki at once as she always did now when there was a problem. She was extremely worried about her brother; he told her everywhere he was going before he went; where was he?

"I'm sorry to say, Your Royal Highness, that Jacen has been reported captured by none other than the irrefutably dangerous and evil Boss Dapnad Flupps. He is being held captive and tortured by the Boss. I would suggest a thing for the Her Royal Highness to do, but I am unsure of her reaction for good or bad; I do not wish to offend your sense of peace and good works, Your Highness."

"Tell me at once," Jaina said quickly and firmly. Her brother was the most important person she had in her life; he was family.

"To go to war with Boss Dapnad Flupps would be a fatal attempt, but an infiltration of one man to assassinate him may work well," Kiki reluctantly expressed.

"We can't kill a man for kidnapping, that's against the law," Jaina said, "my brother is still alive and well according to our last reports."

"If your Royal Highness permits me to say so, I have not been wrong before," Kiki reminded her, "the killing of one you detest to save the ones you value like family and friends? I believe that is a fair trade."

Jaina sighed, "Do you think the possibility exists that Jacen is in imminent danger?"

"Absolutely," Kiki replied, "He could be dead by tomorrow for all we know."

"But who will do the job we need done?" Jaina asked. "No one here is brave enough to infiltrate the Boss Dapnad Flupps' space station…"

"I am," came a man's voice from the doorway, it was Kyp, fully clad in chains and metal bindings. "I was just released to the custody of Coruscant though I have refused. "Jaina listens to me. I will go; you can trust me. Jacen is my friend. I don't want anything bad to happen to him. Please let me go on this mission."

"Kiki?" Jaina asked her counselor, "what now?"

"Let him go," Kiki said, "he has chosen to stay by will. He is trustworthy. He will do the job well."

Jaina nodded. "OK, Kyp," she said, "I hereby assign you to the assassination of Boss Dapnad Flupps."

"Thank you, Your Highness," Kyp said with a smile.

There was something in that smile, Jaina thought, something she actually liked about him. She smiled too.

"Your Royal Highness, if I may say so," Kiki began again, "You will be safer somewhere other than Naboo in case we are targeted by Boss Dapnad Flupps for attempting his murder. Please, if I may suggest you go to hide in a sector of space where you can't be found."

Jaina's mind flashed to Bo and Bo alone. "Of course…but couldn't I simply hide on Earth?" she asked.

"There is a weapon that if Boss Dapnad Flupps activates it before he is destroyed, it will destroy the nature preserve of Earth along with the space station itself; it is a dual self-destruct mechanism."

Jaina thought of Bo again; she had to warn him. Then she thought better of it; no, she realized, she'd have to save him. He had no spaceship he had no way to get off of the planet and away.

She'd been talking to him every night for a while. Though they rarely said the words "I love you" it seemed to be the truth. She had to save him.

She went to the comlink. She plugged into the transmitter and began to speak into it. Bo?…Sorry I'm calling from a different number….I need you to be on the edge of the grass by the schoolhouse for me to pick you up…what?…I know there's no road…In my starship…alright, see you then," the comm clicked as he'd hung up.

She prepared to leave.

Kyp set out on his mission before her because it would take several hours to reach the space station and he needed to make good time. He'd been trained as an assassin before, so he didn't require any further coaching. Jaina knew she had to reach Bo soon too or he'd be lost if the chain reaction did in fact occur.

Jaina bid farewell to Kiki under the guise that she would be traveling out to the point in space they'd agreed on. In reality, she was prepared to go to Earth against Kiki's wishes. Kiki didn't want her in direct harm of attack. Jaina didn't think she had the right to control where she went or why she went there, even though Kiki was usually right in the end. After all, she did have Jaina's best interest at heart; she wanted the young queen to do well for herself and for the planet. That's why she was Jaina's counselor.

But in this case, Jaina knew what was right. Her brother and her love's lives were at stake and she couldn't let them die. She also wanted to be close enough to Kyp to be able to help him if he needed it, but Kiki had assured her that he wouldn't need help and that if he did, that she would send in Naboo troops to assist him. There was no need to put the queen into danger, she said.

Jaina gave a goodbye speech to the people of Naboo. She told them that as their monarch she would do everything in her power to keep them and herself safe and to be able to free the galaxy from such feared enemies as Boss Dapnad Flupps.

The people received this message well and Jaina was soon on her way to Earth. As her shuttle took off, the crowed of people roared with excitement, but not like those who were grateful for being saved; it sounded almost like a pack of bloodthirsty wolves.


	15. Chapter 13

Destiny. It wasn't a word Dapnad had previously considered to be his purpose. But now he knew it was true; his plans to save the Place with No Water were not his own, but instead that they were that of the great Oma-Oma himself who resided in the sacred city of Ossorus. They had to be; how else would such good fortune had come at his time of need? Jacen Solo had left Naboo's protective sphere of influence. He pulled his grandfather's pendant from within the wooden box. "Grandfather," he said into the emptiness of the space station, "Yours on knew da importance missa carry inda service of Oma-Oma, yousa can be proud. "Missa ganna protect thesa who is weesa future and also thesa who can doin bombad to aid missa in dis mission."

Dapnad made sure to indicate in this informal prayer that he'd protect those who would do good if they were able, as well as the innocence that would keep the Gungan race alive. He knew somewhere inside that the only reason the young Queen of Naboo was enforcing the war against him, not to mention the incessant and brutal search for the Place with No Water, was her counselor's will and power over her. She didn't seem like a bad person; she couldn't be with a brother like Jacen.

The young queen trusted in her counselor like a child did in his or her mother. Dapnad wondered why she had so much faith in one that was so far in nature from the purities that used to define the Naboo council members and waiting staff of the queen. After considering for a moment he knew. She was a child, still naive and unlearned in the ways of the world. As much as the girl would likely deny it, she took things at face value to a large extent. "If it looks likein a mother then isa a mother," Dapnad mused aloud.

That's what separated Jacen from his sister in Dapnad's mind; Jacen was inquisitive while his sister was impulsive. While this trait of the queen's was not ideal, her brother's thoughtful considering could work to Dapnad's advantage. And so, that is why Dapnad had contacted him.

He had been afraid to use visual for the conversation with Jacen, lest anyone be around on Jacen's end to spy or recognize his species. They'd talked for a good hour on the comm. He'd told Jacen that if given the chance, he could tell him anything and everything he needed to know, that he had proof to back it all up to the point where Jacen would lose all doubts. All he needed to do was come and visit. Jacen had been hesitant to accept the offer that he presented, but in the end he was persuaded out of sheer curiosity.

Jacen had a good head on his shoulders. He knew, intuitively, that something wasn't right and was willing to listen to the other sides of the argument to come to a conclusion of his own. Dapnad understood that ability; he too had been curious once; as a laboratory scientist, he'd had to be impartial in his search for truths.

The clock was ticking. The boy was due to arrive within the hour; Dapnad expected he would be punctual, as his close examinations indicated that Jacen always seemed to be. Dapnad also knew that Jacen would also be hard to convince, even with Dapnad's solid facts; he'd seen the way the boy worked and knew as much about how he thought as a being could simply by observation.

Dapnad let out a deep sigh. Jacen was his only hope, his only means of obtaining the goal at hand. The queen loved her brother more than she revered her dark counselor associate; surely he could persuade her to see the light through the darkness and the day through the night. Jacen's rationality would be Dapnad's saving grace he was sure.

Dapnad realized how far he'd come. He'd worked so hard to finally reach this point; nothing, not even the ultimate fate of death could stop him now. His mission, his duty to Oma-Oma and to his grandfather who had so unfairly prematurely made the journey down to Ossorus, was depending on him.

The comm buzzed loudly in his ear. He answered it.

"Jacen Solo requesting permission to board the space station, Nozzle. Permission from Boss Dapnad Flupps requested. Confirm?"

Dapnad took a deep swig of his glass of water. The liquid gave him a jolt of energy. He sat up straight in his chair and let the feeling of the liquid course through his veins; even if it was only his imagination it felt good.

He lifted the transmitter to respond. He didn't know what Jacen would think of him. He began to doubt how convincing he could be to a Human. He pushed this thought away. He was not going to sink to their level. He was not going to be prejudiced. "Keep yousa mind open," he reminded himself aloud.

He spoke slowly and clearly into the transmitter. "Yousa has missa permission to dock," he said. His nerves began to creep up on him even stronger. He was worried after all. He'd been so confident, careful, but nonetheless confident. He ignored the butterflies in his stomach. It wasn't time to worry yet; Jacen's reaction remained yet to be seen.

He had expected to hear something from the other end. Possibly a thank you or some other formality, but was silent. Dapnad turned his head to one side to be sure he hadn't missed something. Nothing. Dapnad turned to his console to check the stats of the docking procedures. Before he could fully load the diagnostic and schematics screen, his worries disintegrated. He'd heard a small noise. He listened closer. He could definitely hear a small grinding noise. Then, from that minute noise, came a loud sound he hadn't heard for a long time, the grinding and clicking sound of a ship docking with Nozzle.

It was time.


	16. Chapter 14

Jaina crouched on the ground next to where she had landed her ship in the field outside her old school. She coughed as the wind blew through the dry Colorado grass, kicking up dust as it blew. There was so much debris; she had to shield her eyes with her hand even though she was wearing goggles.

She was beginning to really worry; she had called Bowen ten minutes ago and he'd said he'd be right there. She had to go. Where was he?

The cell phone in her hand lay dormant, as it had been since she'd called him last. She put everything she had into her thoughts and willed the phone to ring. As if in answer, the noise of a ringer was heard. In a daze, she studied the phone for a moment, before realizing that was not the location that the noise was coming from.

Jaina turned at the abrupt shock of the miss-attributed noise. She knew that sound; it was the comm. Somehow it'd made a connection again after more than six hours of being inoperable. She hesitated to answer the comm call, but she knew there was a possibility it was important. Though she didn't know why she hoped it was Kyp, but he was too busy to possibly be the one calling.

She gently lifted herself from her crouched position on the ground and walked to the panel adjacent to the ship's door. She lifted the panel door and pressed in her code on the silver keypad. The keypad accepted her code and acknowledged it with a quick tone.

The door opened with the hiss of the hydraulics strained. Jaina entered and went directly to the transmitter, flipping the comm switch to "on". Kyp's voice broke the silence of the room before Jaina could even answer. "It's done…" he said.

Jaina heaved a large sigh of relief. Earth was still here; there was no chain reaction as Kiki had predicted. Now it wasn't so urgent that Bowen arrive so quickly.

"Congratulations," Jaina said to Kyp, "I guess Kiki over estimated resistance to our attack." "Yeah," Kyp said, "But I can't help thinking that was a bit…too easy."

Almost immediately sirens began to blare on Kyp's end of the comm. "Kyp?" Jaina asked urgently. "What's happening?"

"I don't know," Kyp responded, "I took off to head back to Naboo and it triggered some kind of alarm." Blaster fire could be heard and then a loud sizzling noise that sounded like a hit to Kyp's ship.

"Jaina! I've got company…they're everywhere…my God…" Kyp's sentences were broken into fragments by his intense focus on the situation at hand.

"Kyp, are you OK?" Jaina asked with concern. "Jaina, get out of there now!" Kyp yelled. The weapon Kiki talked about…I can see it…it's huge…and it's charging…I need you to call for backup…I'm outnumbered…"

Jaina cut the connection with Kyp and sent a message to Naboo. She waited. There was no reply. By now quite desperate, she sent another one. Again, no reply.

Jaina knew what she had to do; she had to save Kyp herself. She made for the controls when the cell phone rang.

Bowen. She'd forgotten.

She picked up the phone and pushed "talk". "Bowen, you need to hurry!…Well not fast enough, the end of the world is coming…like now…not much, how far away are you?…" She looked up and could see him running toward her from the old brick school building thirty meters away.

She would wait. She had to. She loved him, and after all he'd done so much to help her regain the memories her Uncle Luke had so maliciously taken away from her. She owed him this much.

"Two minutes until planetary destruction," a mechanical voice came from her ship. "Come on Bowen…" she said with a deep breath.

He was closer now, almost to her.

"One minute until planetary destruction," the mechanical voice warned.

Jaina was scared Bo wouldn't make it in time; she didn't know how long she could wait before forfeiting her mission to save him.

"Jaina," Kyp's voice came through the comm. It was odd, she thought; she'd thought she'd turned it off. "I need backup now or you can kiss me goodbye!"

Kiss…Jaina thought about the kiss she and Bowen had shared at the school dance. Jacen had said it had never existed, that he'd pulled her away before it could happen. But Bowen had insisted it had. They'd been dating, right? Why wouldn't they have kissed? Why did she have so much doubt? And why was she thinking of this now?

Not one to believe in coincidental thinking, Jaina searched her soul for the answer of why in a time of crisis she was considering whether an unimportant event had ever occurred.

"Fifteen seconds until planetary destruction", the mechanical voice said. She let her mind drift to Bowen, and to their teachers…and to their friends… Their friends. It seemed an odd phrase. She almost wanted to say, "His" friends. Kayla, Camille, Isabelle, they were his friends, not hers. In a flash she saw the memory for what it was. Where had they been during the dance? She searched the scene with her mind and found what she sought. There were the three girls, ready to have an excuse to humiliate her after Bowen kissed her and helped them spread rumors around. Isabelle was his girlfriend, not her…but where did that leave Genevieve? Genevieve had warned her and eventually backed out of the situation before they'd both got hurt. She'd been good to Jaina, but Jaina had turned a cold shoulder to her on returning. Bowen was a selfish bastard, she realized. He'd used her first for humiliation, then for attention, and now for a ride to safety. She was done

He was two meters from the ship.

"Five seconds until planetary destruction."

Jaina shut the door of the ship and hit the ignition button. She had to go save Kyp; she couldn't let another friend die because of one of her bad choices. She would always remember her friend, Genevieve; Gen.

As the ship shot into the air, the clawing of a person trying to get through the door could be heard. Jaina didn't bat an eye. Bo deserved what he got.

Her ship spiraled into the sky and through the atmosphere. Being the expert fighter pilot she was, Jaina didn't have much trouble reaching the space station in a very little amount of time. With the extra man power she provided it wasn't long before she and Kyp had destroyed the turrets that were attacking them.

Kyp didn't ask where Bowen was; he knew, and he could tell by the look on Jaina's face that she'd come to terms with it already. She wouldn't need to explain. He knew she had her priorities straight now. She had always had friends, but now she had found it within her to put trust in them.


	17. Chapter 15

Upon returning to Naboo, Jaina and Kyp were met with a procession like none they'd ever seen before. As they stepped off of their ships, they were met by Kiki who greeted them with outstretched arms and a large smile.

"Welcome home!" Kiki shouted with enthusiastic happiness, "Is the deed done?" She turned her silver eyes on Kyp and waited for a response.

Kyp hesitated a little as though he weren't sure. He looked down at the ground then refocused his eyes on Jaina.

Jaina returned his glance and game him a reassuring nod. When he finally spoke, Kyp's voice carried an air of pride. "Indeed, it is," he said, and allowed himself to smile. The crowd behind Kiki erupted with cries of excitement. As they danced around Kyp and Jaina, they tossed sparklers and confetti. Lights flashed and music played.

Fireworks began to erupt into the night sky. Though the sound of their explosions was loud, the crowd's laughter and cheering was by far the loudest thing in the night. Kiki, Kyp, and Jaina walked through the town toward Theed Palace. Every street upon which they turned, another crowd of people flooded out from the houses to greet and congratulate them. Kiki waved her hands to the sides as if to say her usual, "Make way for the chosen and make way for the Queen."

The stone streets leading up to Theed Palace were already being decorated with tinsels and garland. It would be a celebration to remember, Jaina thought, but her heart was not in it. Was something wrong, or was it the sickening memories of Genevieve and Bowen that drug her so deep into this melancholy state?

Once inside the palace, Kiki took Jaina aside to speak with her about her lack of enthusiasm. "My lady, Queen," Kiki began, "should it please you for me to lend an ear for your sorrow's comfort?"

Jaina, startled that anyone had noticed her sentiments were not genuine, spoke earnestly to Kiki. "My dear Counselor Kiki," she said with sorrow, "I am very much grieved. One that I cared for dearly has fallen to the hands of fate and has come to leave us in this life." "I understand, milady," Kiki responded with mirrored sorrow, "It will be hard to live without him, but you must carry on."

"Him?" Jaina asked. She had been talking about Genevieve. She also wondered how Kiki knew about Bowen. "I wasn't speaking of Bowen…"

"Bowen, lady?" Kiki asked, with a bat of her long eyelashes. Both considered for a moment about what the other meant.

Kiki, looked Jaina I the eyes. "You don't know then…" she said with a gasp as her thoughts registered.

"Know what…?" Jaina asked.

When Kiki shrunk away from her, it was obvious she had assumed Jaina knew something she did not, and that something was bad news.

"Tell me now!" Jaina yelled at Kiki. She was infuriated that something had been kept from her. She was the queen after all. "I assumed…" Kiki said softly, "I assumed you were talking about your brother…"

"Jacen?" Jaina breathed, "Why would I…?" She froze up in fear, and then realized what the push for the immediate killing of Boss Dapnad Flupps had really been. Revenge, no, vengeance. He'd killed her brother. Jaina's eyes slowly slid out of focus as she crumpled to the floor, her dress billowing around her like a cloud.

"I'm sorry…" Kiki explained, "I thought you knew…"

Jaina looked into Kiki's eyes and spoke deliberately steady. "Counselor Kiki, why did you not tell me this was the reason for all these attacks on Boss Flupps?" she said angrily, "Did you think I'd falter or make a hasty decision?" Then she broke into tears. "Because if you did, you'd have been right…" she sobbed.

"We can have the Ceremony of the Fallen tonight if you wish," Kiki said, "It may bring closure."

"The Ceremony of the Fallen?" Jaina asked as she wiped away the onslaught of tears. "I believe it used to be called the Whirlpool of Souls Ceremony, back in your grandmother's time," Kiki explained, "do you know of this tradition."

With the second name to jog her memory, Jaina was positive what ceremony Kiki was speaking of:

The Ceremony of the Fallen (Whirlpool of Souls Ceremony) was the ceremony that released the souls of those who had died in battle into the sky for the gods to make judgments on. The ceremony was considered very dangerous because it was the only time the Whirlpool Vortex was allowed to escape from the chamber that contained it from beneath the floor of the Hive.

Jaina knew that the Hive was a religious building created long before her grandmother's time. It was the oldest building on Naboo; it was even older than Theed Palace itself. It was shaped like a beehive and was made of an almost terracotta material. Along the walls on the inside were small ledges made of the same material as the walls and that were secured with metal bolts to the sides. The only other bits of metal in the entire structure was a circular gate that went from ceiling to floor and the valves that contained the vortex in the floor and in the ceiling in the center of the gates. When the vortex was released, the gates lit up and in between each of their bars was a special kind of force field that only certain materials could pass through and only if the person putting the material through was truly in a state of sorrow. One such material was paper.

How the ceremony went, Jaina remembered, was that one would write the name of a relative or close friend who'd died in battle on a piece of paper and cry for them as they slipped the note between the bars, through the force field, and into the vortex. The vortex would then spin all the papers around until the valve at the top was opened. Then, the vortex would spiral out of the upper valve and shot into the sky. As the story went, that would be the sign that their loved ones had moved on and would be judged by the gods there. The story also spoke, if Jaina remembered correctly, of a man whose name was given to the vortex while he was still alive, but he promptly died of unknown causes shortly after.

The Ceremony of the Fallen was the best way to honor Jacen, Jaina thought. And so she agreed.


	18. Chapter 16

The city was black; the streets were lined in black garland, the trees were adorned with black decorations, all of the townspeople's attire was black, and the queen was dressed in a gown as black as night.

There were many processions of mourners that filled the streets and though they seemed to erratically move about the streets, they all eventually were congregated outside the Hive. The small square outside the Hive was filled over its capacity and the sound of the mourners was the most intense that Naboo had ever seen. When the doors were opened, they sang operatic hymns as they filed one after another into the main chamber of the Hive.

The last person to enter the Hive was the queen herself, Jaina Solo Amidala II, her head covered by a delicate black lace veil. She did her best to keep from crying, but with the immense pain she was in the attempt proved futile. She tried to contain as many tears within her eyes as she could get to stay, but upon reaching her seat across from the opening to the Hive, she collapsed on the bars in front of her and cried so hard she thought she too would die.

Kyp, who sat at her right, looked up at her as she sat in her slightly raised seat. He wanted to make her feel better; he couldn't bear the thought of her in pain. "Odd," he mumbled to himself, "I've never been one to have sympathetic feelings."

Kiki stepped into the doorway. "We are sealing the doors now," she said in her liquid voice, "please remove all appendages from within or touching the bars in front of your seats. My lady, Royal Highness, Queen Amidala II the Second of Naboo, shall we begin?"

Kiki looked nervous and like she wished for nothing more but to get this ceremony over with. She shifted uncomfortably and tugged at her clothing; she was acting like she was a child again. Jaina didn't notice but she did as Kiki would want her to. She faced forward and raised her head high and tried to avoid the tears glinting in the light. She clapped her hands for silence. "Very well," she announced, "let us begin."

There was a loud smacking noise as the suction seals formed around the doors as they closed, locking the townspeople and Jaina inside. All became silent almost immediately.

Kiki nodded at Jaina, signaling her. Jaina pressed a button on the side of her chair and the valve in the center of the gated area slowly began to slide open. As the opening became wider, red gas began to fill the room. It seemed to have a violent nature as it didn't flow but rather tore out of the widening space in the valve. As if it had a mind of its own, the gas slammed itself against the spaces between the bars trying to escape. Jaina felt worried; she was afraid that the force fields between the bars would not hold such a powerful force.

Then the vortex began to form. The red gas turned into what seemed like a fiery whirlwind of lightening. It thrust itself at the bars like it wanted to envelop the spectators who sat in the seats surrounding the enclosure.

Though the vortex writhed in utter chaos, the spectator area was as silent as death itself. This made it easy for Kiki to give a signal to the queen that it was time to begin the rituals of the Ceremony of the Fallen.

The townspeople clutched small pieces of paper in their hands with the names of those who had died since the last ceremony. They hoped that the Mother Goddess would accept the souls once the electric waves of the vortex carried the papers with their names up to her, the ones that the vortex would not accept as baggage would become lost souls fated to wander the universe indefinitely.

Jaina understood Kiki's signal and waved her hand high above her head. In a wave that spread around the room from the queen's right to her left, the townspeople began to slide their papers up to the barred force field. The papers slid through the barrier as if there was nothing there, and soon the room was filled with the sound of rustling papers.

Jaina slid the paper with Genevieve's name on it gingerly through the field. She was an Earthling, not a Naboo, but Jaina had a feeling the Mother Goddess would accept her soul, if for no other reason, because she was a true friend of the queen. Had she not, after all, died in vein to the queen's credit?

Jaina fingered the one remaining paper in her hand. Jacen; she hadn't even seen the body. She closed her eyes and wished with all her heart that her brother was still alive. Kiki stared across the room at her, their eyes meeting. Kiki had seen her hesitate and her eyes looked cold with determination. Jaina was almost scared of her in that moment; she had never seen Kiki look mean, but under the light of the vortex, she looked to Jaina like a demon. Odd, Jaina thought, she'd never associated anything bad with Kiki before. Why now?

Afraid to disobey the command Kiki had given her, she reached the paper up toward the force field. The force field opened a little to make way for the paper, when the door of the Hive was thrown open.

The vortex destabilized and disintegrated before their eyes. Jaina quickly pulled the paper back from the side of the force field and turned, willing to take matters into her own hands to deal with such an unholy disturbance. She headed down the stairs and to the front door. She looked at the violator with a vicious stare and was about to have him arrested. She stopped short of her angry accusations, however; her features softened and her brow uncurled. The boy who stood before her was dressed in unusual clothing and had a much more seriously look about him than had been the last time he saw her.

She was standing face to face with none other than her brother, Jacen.


	19. Chapter 17

Jacen wouldn't explain where he'd been and why he'd been gone. He simply walked around, there, but not there, a shadow of his former self. He was quiet and serious like a phantom. He didn't speak a word; his thoughts were merely made understood through his actions by all those around him.

Jaina tried to start a conversation with her brother many times, but he would not respond. He would only stare back into her eyes with a knowing glance that felt almost omnipotent.

He didn't even move much; instead he stood fairly still and only walked far when Jaina did. He was never let her out of his sight. The scared looks and worries that normally clouded his face had vanished, and were replaced by a sense of acute dullness.

Kiki stayed close by Jaina as well, in fact, she too never left her side. Jaina wondered if the two of them were at war for her attentions or if they had no business of their own and chose instead to follow her like sheep.

Or like guard dogs, she corrected herself. Kiki wouldn't let anything happen to her, or so she'd been told many times, and it seemed that every part of Jacen, too, wished her to be safe and happy.

Jaina was growing tired of the constant companionship of her brother and counselor, but she wasn't sure how to make them go. Kiki always had some excuse to stay by her side, and Jacen simply didn't follow her orders to leave.

Kiki she expected as much from. Kiki was stuck in her ways and would not allow herself to be told what to do in any way. Jaina was beginning to notice that perhaps it was Kiki who was acting as queen, and not herself.

Finally she decided to talk to Kiki about her lack of privacy. "Counselor," she said.

"Yes?" Kiki answered, "What service can I do Your Royal Highness, Queen Amidala II of Naboo?"

"Please Kiki," Jaina said, "formalities aside…" She didn't know exactly how to pose her question. "…I was wondering if I might not be able to have some time to myself."

Kiki paused and considered. "You mean, Your Royal Highness wishes to take a reprieve from her duties now that the war is over?" She smiled. "Well of course, we can leave at once for Varykino! You deserve a good rest after all that's happened to you."

"Not we, Kiki," Jaina tried to explain, "I. I need a break from everyone."

"You cannot!" Kiki practically yelled, "It's unsafe! No queen should be out alone in any place, even one as protected and secluded as Varykino!"

Varykino was the lake retreat often visited by Jaina's grandmother, Amidala I. It was a generally unknown area and was not a place where anyone would think to look for a vacationing queen.

"Kiki," Jaina insisted, "I must. I promise you I will be gone but one night."

Kiki seemed very uncomfortable with this idea, but she soon conceded. "If Your Royal Highness must, she must."

"Thank you, Counselor," Jaina said in relief.

She went back to her chambers to pack for the trip. She was alone. When she reached the door, she found it ajar. Odd, she thought, for she had been sure to lock it.

She stepped inside and it closed behind her though there was no one there to shut it. She assumed a fearless posture though in reality she was rather frightened. "Hello?" she called out. "Who has entered my bedchamber?"

"A quiet ghost, no longer silent, lady," was the response. Jacen stepped from an adjoining room into her field of vision.

"Jacen! You spoke!" she cried with both delight and fear. Though she was grateful to the Mother Goddess for having brought Jacen back his tongue and verbiage, the way he spoke and the coldness within scared her deeply.

"We must talk," he said, "Quickly now before it is too late." He looked around in a quick motion then turned back to her. "Where is the fiend Kiki and are we utterly alone?"

Jaina began to panic. Who was this man who did not seem to be the naïve boy her brother had been? "Fiend?" she asked. She knew that Jacen didn't like Kiki, but to call her a fiend was pushing it a little bit too far, she thought.

"Then she is not here," he deduced, from the lack of outside reaction to the word "fiend". "Then let me tell you something and make it clear enough that you shall see, but vague enough that you shall learn and be open."

"What in Mother Goddess' name are you talking about?" Jaina asked.

"You shall see," he replied, "tonight you shall see." He reached to his pocket and pulled out a small wooden box. "Open this and lay it under your pillow tonight in Varykino," he said, "does not tell anyone you possess it or let anyone see it. Also do not open it before it is time for you to sleep."

"What?" she asked. She was getting very confused as well as alarmed by her brother's behavior

"No time," he said, but is warned there are more at stake than only you; all is not what it seems." When Jaina's face remained cloudy, he clarified, "This box contains answers and truths that you would not believe from me alone. Seeing believes."

He placed the small box into her hand.

They heard a familiar voice form down the hall. Soon, Kiki entered the bedchamber and saw the two standing face to face. "Jacen," she said, acknowledging him.

"I will bid you good day," Jacen said, and with that, he bowed and exited the room.

"Did your brother just speak?" Kiki asked, then realizing the stupidity of her question, rephrased it as, "What did he say?"

"Nothing of importance," Jaina said back, protecting her brother's confidence, "to quote a famous Earth Playwright 'Words, words, words'."

"I don't believe I follow," Kiki said.

"It's alright," Jaina responded, "I don't believe anyone does.


	20. Chapter 18

She was exhausted; it was time for bed. The journey to Varykino had been long. Traversing the shuttle routes without anyone recognizing her had been rather difficult. But here she was, in the retreat home of her grandmother, Padme Naberrie Amidala I, and she was alone, finally alone.

She relished in the feelings of seclusion. Kiki wasn't nagging her, Jacen wasn't looming over her, and there were no papers to be signed, no wars to be fought…She sighed; she could honestly say she was happy. A smile crossed her face. How refreshed she would feel when she returned home to Theed after this one night. A sneaky idea crossed her mind. If she could get stuck here, then she could have more time like this. She let the thought slip away. She wasn't a child anymore; those kinds of tricks had to be abolished from her repertoire.

She sat down on the bed and leaned backward into the mattress. She sunk down into its softness and she closed her eyes to sleep. Then, she remembered what Jacen had said and given her. She owed it to her brother to hear him out on whatever it was, she thought.

She pulled the wooden box from her bag and opened it. She paced it underneath her pillow and once again closed her eyes to sleep.

After a little while, her body began to tingle and she felt heavy; she couldn't move any of her limbs. She could open and close her mouth but it felt as though her jaw was moving through molasses. Colored lights began to dance behind her eyelids which looked like the sensation she got when she pressed on them. Though she couldn't open them, she began to see the room around her. She wondered if she was actually in her own body. Then she heard it, a deep rumbling noise, and then a crash which sounded like a train bursting through her room. She got up.

She walked to the door and stepped outside, only to find the outside rooms completely underwater. Though she herself was now underwater, surprisingly she could still breathe.

"Missa welcome yousa to Ossorus," came a voice from behind her. "Da Gungan heaven." She turned to see a Gungan looking at her, smiling. He was taller than most Gungans she'd seen in books, and not nearly as fierce as they'd been depicted. She began to back away slowly, as she'd heard so many horrific things about their race.

"Don't yousa be afraid of missa," he said, "missa won't hurt yousa." His smile got abnormally large. "Missa be bringa yousa here to taleo yousa da truth and ask for yousa help."

"You want me to help you?" Jaina asked. "She was very scared by this point and didn't exactly know what to do.

"Let missa showin yousa," he said. "Missa name is Dapnad Flupps by da way."

He swam downward, and turned when Jaina didn't follow him. "Yousa com?"

Jaina resolved to go with him in a sudden burst of curiosity. Though they swam for several minutes, Jaina noticed that she wasn't getting tired.

Eventually they reached an area that was not open water. It was an old city made out of coral. Jaina saw that the coral had been adjusted with markers to form the shape of the buildings, rather than being carved, broken or killed. They were conserving the environment, she mused.

They swam into one of the buildings and Dapnad waved a hand to have Jaina be seated at one of the stools, which were made of a spongy moss like material.

Jaina sat and Dapnad swam to a shelf on the side of the room. He lifted a small blue iridescent ball from off of the shelf. 'Dis was longo forgotten," he said. "isa time it went back to yousa Naboo".

"What is it?" Jaina asked him.

"Dis is da Globe of Peace. Yousa grandmother, Queen Amidala, gave it toda Gungans as a way of sayin thesa can no fight us anymore."

"That's impossible," Jaina said, "Kiki told me that there has always been war between the Gungans and the Naboo."

"Kiki…" Dapnad mused, "yeah, she isa liar…"

Jaina looked in disbelief and anger at Dapnad.

Dapnad sighed. "Let missa start from da begninn, and take Kiki out of da equation..." He thought for a moment, "…for da moment anyway." He closed his eyes, then opened them again and began his story:

"Whena missa a child missa wanna be a scientist. Missa wanna explore da galaxy and learn about everyth. Missa grandfather wanna missa to be a bubble builder because he thought missa was no bombad enough do important jobs, so missa went to prove missa worth. Missa left Naboo and missa built a space station.

"Kiki was an apprentice who jobbin for handmaiden at da time and was gettin maxibig of power. She start a massacre of da Gungans and missa no know whya. Missa ask come home and join da army, but missa thought missa can doin more bombad by creat a weapon on missa space station. Missa spent so much time mak da weapon bombad da day massacre end da day missa finish and missa da on gungan left. It was Kiki who attackin us and us lies and mischief to end weesa race."

"But why would she do a thing like that?" Jaina asked him, it didn't make any sense.

"Missa told yousa, missa no know," Dapnad reminded her, "but da is no all. Kiki is also da one responsible for yousa kidnapp as a baby. She is da one who took yousa to Earth and hid yousa from yousa fami. Missa doin know a litta bitty about da: der was some kind of disputa about who should be da monarch. Naboo wanna a unspoil innocent queen who was a relative of a queen from da past."

"So they hid me to keep me from outside ideas…" Jaina thought out loud. This made much more sense than Kiki's story. Jaina was starting to have a bad feeling about Kiki.

"Yeah," Dapnad said, "thesa did, and thesa blam missa and drove missa to exile to try and exterminata da one thesa miss."

Jaina was horrified. Though she sat in an coral house in the sacred city of the Gungan God, Oma-Oma, and all was well for him, she felt terrible for having brought Dapnad to the end of his life.

"You mentioned my ability to help you," she said, "How can I possibly help you now?"

"Da Place with No Water is no a weapon storage facility. Isa da place wherea da last of da Gungans putin thesa eggs to wait for them to return. Unfortunata da is no possible now. What missa can ask yousa do is go der and make sure thesa is safe to start a new race of Gungans who ganna eventual take back what is thesa."

By the tone in his voice, Jaina knew that Dapnad was sincere. She smiled at him. "I promise I will do everything I can to help you," she vowed, "I will repay this like a life debt."

Suddenly she couldn't breathe; she began to choke and gag.

She jolted, and opened her eyes. She was in her bed in Varykino. She'd been asleep.


	21. Chapter 19

Jaina wasn't quite sure whether to believe the dream Dapnad Flupps or not. She knew dreams were a figment of the imagination and that she had probably invented the whole thing in her head out of the guilt of a life to her credit. Funny, she thought, the dream hadn't been about Bowen, then.

She thought about these things all the way back to Theed Palace the next day.

When she arrived, she immediately went to find Jacen, planning not to check in with Kiki as she had promised the day before. She found him in the gardens looking out at one of the massive fountains.

"Jacen," she said, "I had a dream last night. I want you to explain it to me."

Jacen turned and looked her in the eyes. "Jaina," he said, his face much softened since she'd last seen him. "You've seen the light; the truth is clear now. Kiki had you commit an evil act."

"But how do we know that Dapnad spoke the truth?" Jaina said. "If someone like Kiki has the potential to be so evil, why doesn't a seemingly benevolent stranger?"

"I've met them both," Jacen said, "And am stronger in the force than you. Don't deny it. Your years away on earth have been hard to make up for. I know who's telling the truth."

"I'd believe you if she'd admit it," Jaina said shaking her head, "I don't want to sound mistrustful but this whole situation has me confused to the point of mandatory impartiality."

"I understand," Jacen sympathized, "but your wish can also be arranged."

"What do you mean?" Jaina asked him.

"Kiki is not sensitive to the Force," Jacen explained, "Therefore I figure a simple Jedi mind trick should allow us to make her speak her thoughts."

As if on cue Kiki stepped out of the palace and made her way toward them.

"Show time," Jaina said, looking intently at Jacen.

Before she got to where the twins were standing, Kiki was already lecturing Jaina.

"Your Royal Highness," she was saying, "it is not wise for a queen to be out without her counselor's knowledge. Had anything potentially harmful occurred, I wouldn't know what had happened or where to send the reinforcements. Did you know…?"

"She knew," Jacen said with a wave of his hand.

"Of course you knew," Kiki said, easily falling under the influence of the Force powers Jacen was exerting. "But do you realize…"

"She realizes," Jacen said with a second wave of his hand.

"Of course you realize," Kiki said.

"What is the name you go by?" Jacen asked her.

"Kiki Gallant," she replied.

"And what is your birth name," he inquired.

"Samp Nukkels," she replied.

"Who gave you your birth name?" he asked.

"My father," she answered.

"And who gave you the name you go by?" he asked, pressing further.

"My mother," she said.

"What was your father's name?" he asked.

"Jep Do Nukkels," came her answer.

"And your mother?" he inquired. "Sabe Gallant," she responded. Jacen moved into more difficult questions with more than one answer. "Were they married?"

"No. I was born to my mother, Sabe Gallant and the Gungan scoundrel, my father, Jep Do Nukkels though I was non-consensually conceived," she said, though without any feeling because she was under his Force trance.

"What is the thing you hate most?" Jacen knew he was getting to the important facts now.

"Gungans."

"Why do you hate them?" he interrogated her.

"I was made fun of in school as being inferior because I was part Gungan. I grew to loath my father and his race for what he did to my mother and the life his genetics caused me to have."

"How did you overcome the prejudices against you?" He had her where he wanted her.

"I went to political training to try to make a difference in the government of the planet and the leniency in the rulings of Gungan crimes. But I soon learned was not allowed to hold office as queen, though I was more qualified than Her Royal Highness Kylantha. There is a blood test that is required by law to be sure that a person applying for the position of monarch was truly human. I then became a handmaiden, as my mother had been before me and slowly, one by one, I gained the trust of the full humans that I worked with on a daily basis."

Go for the jugular, he thought. "What was your relationship with Queen Kylantha like?"

"Queen Kylantha and I became very close in a very short amount of time. I was more than a handmaiden, I was a friend. I convinced her that a hereditary monarchy would best preserve the way that Naboo was supposed to be. I told her that the most popular queen would certainly be the best one to raise the future monarch. She, of course, thought I proclaimed her to be the most popular queen, when in fact, the polls showed Former Royal Highness Padme Amidala as having that honor. She helped me pass the law and get a promotion to counselor, before she realized that she'd misunderstood my preaching and had lost her job."

Make it personal, he reminded himself. "Why did you do this?"

"To take power; with Kylantha out of the way, all I had left to do was to secure that though I could not rule officially, that I could rule through a weakling queen."

And make the kill, he thought determinedly. "And how did you do this?"

"I convinced the people that the best course of action was to protect the innocent child who would someday be our monarch, and to do so we needed to take them to where they would be unspoiled by interstellar ideas. I believed the best option for a child of the three infant relations of Former Queen Padme Amidala was Jaina Solo. This was because she was female and would be easier for the people to make the mental association with her grandmother."

And lastly don't forget the justification, he remembered. "How did you get away with it?"

"I kidnapped her and blamed Dapnad Flupps, which led to his exile and eventual death by my conniving."

"How did your trickery lead to his death?"

"By turning the current Royal Highness Queen of Naboo against him with lies and by turning the people against my foe using conformity.

"And lastly, what purpose had you in this?" Jacen asked, this time unsure of the answer he would be given.

"There were two. To finish off the Gungans once and for all and to take control of the monarchy of Naboo."

He should have expected as much. "We never had this conversation," he told her with a wave of his hand.

"We never had this conversation," she repeated.

"You haven't spoken to us today.

"I haven't spoken to you today."

"You have things to attend to in the palace."

"I have things to attend to in the palace." She turned and made for the palace, though in a few minutes she would not only have forgotten the conversation, but also have lost any recollection of what it was she needed to attend to. It would bother her for a few hours at least.

Jaina looked at her brother. Her eyes were filled with horror.


	22. Chapter 20

They made ready for the journey within only a couple of hours. The Place with No Water had to be found and protected, Jaina knew that now. Kiki had been lying to her all along and she knew that somehow she had to pay the life-debt she had promised Dapnad, even if his image had only been a figment in a dream generated by the pendant.

Jaina put the pendant's chain around her neck; somehow she knew it would guide her. Dapnad had been given her the pendant for a reason and somewhere inside she knew it was meant for more than to reveal the truth, but she didn't know how she knew.

Kiki would be occupied figuring out what had happened and why she was in the palace so Jaina and Jacen had a few hours window to get ready and set out to find the Place with No Water before it was too late to escape Kiki's watchful eye.

Jaina had wanted to kill Kiki. Not only for the way Kiki had used her, but also for the mass discrimination and hatred of a race merely based on childhood intolerances. She wondered what life would have been like had the school children accepted Kiki for who she was. It was too massive a change to be imagined.

Jacen knocked on Jaina's door. "You ready?" he asked her.

"Yeah," Jaina said, "almost. Just packing a few more bits of food, just in case."

"Smart idea," Jacen said, "we won't be able to stop many places for meals without you being recognized."

Jaina smiled. Her brother was slowly becoming more like the boy he used to be before he'd met Dapnad. Jacen had explained to her that his sudden change was one of dissociation. He hadn't been aware that such evil existed until Dapnad had made him aware. He'd been traumatized by the sheer thought.

Jacen had known of the treacheries of the Empire but his mother had known his sensitivities and kept much detail away from him. She had assumed he'd get to know when he was emotionally ready which he hadn't been until now.

The twins left the city before nightfall. They didn't exactly know where they were going other than Jaina's intuition which she attributed in part to the pendant. She didn't know that it was causing her to feel a certain way about the direction they should go, but she wanted to believe it enough that she almost did.

They eventually had to stop to sleep. They made camp by the side of a tall rocky outcropping. Jaina was just starting to drift off when Jacen spoke in a hushed tone, "We're lost, aren't we?"

"Huh?" Jaina asked.

"We don't know where we are, do we?" Jacen said to clarify.

"No," Jaina admitted. She didn't know where she was going, it was true. Her intuition must have led them astray, she thought. They'd traveled back and forth and around the plains and lakes of Naboo, and never once seen a sign of a lack of water.

"Maybe it's time we turn back," Jacen said reluctantly.

"What?" Jaina asked in astonishment. "No we can't do that, I promised, Jacen…"

"You promised a dream," he said. His voice was firm and serious. "You can't always be savior of the galaxy."

"I actually never was…" Jaina trailed off. "I wish," she said, "I wish that Dapnad would just show us the way."

They fell asleep soon after they'd talked and all was quiet. Jacen fell into a deep sleep, but Jaina dreamed vividly and fitfully.

She could see it; they were so close and yet so far. She didn't know if it was her imagination, but she felt as though she could reach out and touch the place they sought. She felt the cold of stone touching her hand. She awoke with a start.

She was far closer to the rocky outcropping than the camp was, and her hand was pressed up against it. She was also standing.

Jacen was laying several meters away staring at her. "Jaina," he said, "You awake?"

"Yeah," she said, "now I am. What happened?" she felt a great sense of calm, though she wondered why she wasn't frightened.

"You walked in your sleep," Jacen told her, "You got up and walked directly to that that rock."

"This rock?" she asked with her hand still firmly placed on the stone she was standing by."

"No," Jacen said, "Not at first. The one over there; the one with the hole in it."

Jaina walked to the rock with the hole. She felt a strong compulsion to place Dapnad's pendant inside it, but she was unsure of why.

Following her intuition, she took the pendant off of her neck and placed the round surface into the hole.

Blue light ran through the entire rock surface and illuminated the stone and the field they were in.

The rock Jaina had awoke by slid to the side with a slight rumble. It was a secret cave.

Without hesitation the twins entered the cave. They found it to be a large open cavern filled with small rocks. "How odd," Jaina said, for a cavern to be filled with rocks."

"These aren't' rocks," Jacen said, "we're too late…they've dried out. These are the Gungan eggs." He put his head down in mourning. "They're really extinct."

Jaina froze. "No…" she gasped, "my promise…"

She dropped to her knees and began to talk to Dapnad like he was there with her. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I failed. I should have known sooner but I was blind. I am so sorry!"

In a sudden burst of emotion she began to cry. First her sobs were dry and quiet, and then the tears began to fall. As the tears touched the ground in front of her, a small ball of iridescent blue light began to form. It grew larger until it resembled the Globe of Peace from her dream. She felt it's now hard surface touching her knee and she looked up. The dry walls of the cavern were now wet with moss, and the rock like eggs moved with the life they contained.

"We'd better go," Jacen said, "they'll hatch soon. We can't be here."

"How do you know?" Jaina asked him.

"I just do," he said.

As they exited the cave, Jaina turned to Jacen. "How to we prevent them from being found?" she asked frantically.

"I have an idea," Jacen said. He removed the pendant from the hole which had been keeping the cave ajar. As the door rumbled and started to close, he tossed the pendant into the cave.

"They'll have a heck of a time opening that now," he said.

Jaina smiled and they made for the space port.


	23. Chapter 21

It was fairly easy to slip out of the spaceport unnoticed. Jacen and Jaina were dressed in basic clothing and no one blinked an eye or had a second thought about who they were. Jaina had known her Earth attire would come in handy.

Jaina had also relinquished the name of Amidala, and simply went by Jaina Solo, which to her surprise, no one knew. Though she honored her grandmother in many other ways, she knew for a fact she would never take the name Amidala again. Naboo was no longer home, and neither were its practices or politics.

The twins borrowed a ship from a Naboo shipyard in a small town and set a course for Coruscant. The journey was extremely uneventful, but Jaina didn't care for once. They were going home, really home, and she'd missed her mother and father dearly. They both had.

So much had happened in between when they'd last seen their parents that they didn't know how they'd explain it all. Jacen turned to Jaina and smiled a warm smile, the first one since he'd given her since before he'd left and met Dapnad Flupps. He was changing back to the soft-spoken, kind boy he'd been, rather than the cold, dark and stoic individual that the experience of meeting Dapnad had caused him to be for so long.

The pulled into the orbit of Coruscant within a few hours and were relieved to see not much had changed. The planet beneath them was still the home they remembered, even after all the time they'd been gone. They were happy to be home. Jaina picked up the comm transceiver and phoned home.

The mechanical voice of a droid picked up the call. "Master Jaina Solo, I must say, it is certainly surprising to hear your voice." It was See-Threepio. Jaina heard a bleep from the background, Artoo-Detoo was there too. That was exciting because it meant that Uncle Luke had come to visit, not to mention she'd missed the droids a lot, though she'd never admit it to anyone. She'd always claimed they were just hardware that needed to be modified to be less whiny and annoying, though in her heart she really did like them.

"Jaina?" came another voice from the background, "Here Threepio, hand that here now, you hunk of metal." It was her father, Han Solo. "My god, kid, you've been gone a long time, is your brother there too?" It was so good to hear his voice.

"Yes, Dad," Jaina said, "Jacen's here." Before he could ask the question, she added, "and we're both fine."

"Listen," he said, "normally there would be consequences for such reckless actions, but in this case I think your mother and I are just happy your back. Where the heck have you been?" Han tried to contain both his thrill and relief.

"That'll take a lot of explaining," Jaina said.

"One second," Han said, and spoke to someone off the transmission. They heard him say, "Yeah, ok, sure," and then he was talking to them again. "Your Uncle Luke wants to talk to you," Han told his kids.

Han handed Luke the transceiver and Luke spoke to the twins. "As a family," he began, "we have decided to leave this area of the galaxy in search of a new home. It isn't safe for us here, now that the political air is changing, and we need to get to looking for a new place to live before it's too late." He handed the transceiver back to Han.

"We're bringing the Millennium Falcon up to meet you guys," Han said to the kids, "We'll be there in a few. We've got all your stuff packed, so don't you worry about a thing."

The Millennium Falcon took off from its landing pad at the main spaceport on Coruscant and soon had pulled alongside Jaina and Jacen's craft. The twins boarded the Falcon were reunited with their family. They prepared to leave with a target time of three hours.

When the three hours came and went, Jaina seemed worried. "What's wrong, dear?" Leia asked her daughter. Leia didn't like when her children were in any way upset.

"Kyp isn't here," Jaina said, "I called him, left him a message, and he didn't come."

"Kyp's a big boy," Han said, having overheard, "he can take care of himself."

It wasn't that, Jaina thought, it was the fact that she missed him. They'd been through so much together. She could almost say she loved him. She pushed the thought away; they were leaving, she didn't need to get attached now.

"Prepare to leave," the ship's voice said mechanically.

Jaina buckled in. She'd never see him again, never in all of time. She hoped he'd be alright, moreover she hoped that she'd be alright without him.

"Starting countdown," the ship said, "Leaving in five, four, three, and two…"

Jaina held her breath from the sudden realization and the inability to choke it back; she didn't almost love him, she did love him.

"Error," the ship said, "Malfunction. Door ajar. Please correct and then start engines again."

"Door ajar?" Han asked. "I checked them all myself."

A man stood in the doorway. "Sorry I'm late?" he said. It was Kyp.

Jaina had to contain herself from squealing. She didn't want him to know, not yet; she would tell him soon enough.

The ship launched and they set out to find a habitable planet to call their new home.

"Now, are you going to tell us what's going on," Luke asked the twins when they were all settled. He winked at Han and Leia. The twins didn't need to know that they'd only been players in the grand adventure.

Jacen, Jaina and Kyp looked at each other. Then they laughed. "It's a long story," Jaina said, "So sit back and relax…"

She began her tale from the beginning.


End file.
